Betty Birch, who died on 16 August 2024 at the age of 94, was a leading anti-Franco activist during the postwar years and was a founder member of the IBMT. She campaigned on behalf of Spanish political prisoners and was the first chair of the Aid to Spanish Youth Committee. She was born Betty Andrew […]
Enter the IBMT's annual online raffle for a chance to win fantastic prizes and support the Trust's commemorative and educational work. First prize is £500 towards a weekend in Madrid and a guided tour of the Prado museum for two (subject to availability). There are two second prizes of six bottles of fine Spanish wine. […]
Lynda Walker of the International Brigade Commemoration Committee (IBCC) writes… On Friday 9 August the IBCC held its annual event as part of the Féile an Phobail (People’s Festival) in the Shankill Road Library. This year the topic was about the medics who provided vital support for those who were injured and dying in the […]
Jim Jump reviews ‘Spanish Sky Spreads Its Stars: The story of the Thälmann Battalion and the first Germans in armed struggle against fascism’ by Ewald P Schulz (International Brigade Commemoration Committee, Belfast, 2024). More than 4,000 Germans fought in the International Brigades or in the anti-fascist militias and other Spanish military units during the Spanish […]
The Madrid-based AABI Friends of the International Brigades have announced the programme for the 2025 Jarama commemoration, which will be dedicated to the Lincoln Battalion volunteers. See the AABI website to register for the march and transport to and from AABI events Please note that on the Friday there will also be an optional alternative […]
With the eyes of the world on Paris for the Olympics, we look back at David Ebsworth's 2021 article in which he explains the inspiration for ‘A Betrayal of Heroes’, his thriller about Jack Telford and the Spanish Republicans who continued the fight against fascism. As an author of historical fiction, none of the periods […]
This is the 86th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Ebro. Conceived and meticulously planned by General Vicente Rojo, it began with the crossing of the Ebro River into fascist territory on 24/25 July 1938 and ended with the remnants of the Republican army retreating back across the Ebro in November 1938. […]
The IBMT's commemoration at the International Brigade memorial in Jubilee Gardens on London's South Bank on Saturday 6 July saw speeches by PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote and historian Richard Baxell. As is customary and led by IBMT President Marlene Sidaway, wreaths were laid and there was a minute's silence in honour of the more […]
There will be a talk in Belfast on 9 August on Sligo-born nurse Ruth Ormsby and on medical aid from Ireland and elsewhere in the Spanish Civil War. The speaker will be Johnny Gogan and the event will be chaired by Unison Regional Secretary Patricia McKeown. It is being organised by the IBMT-affiliated International Brigade […]
Jim Jump applauds the publication of a new booklet about the rail and maritime workers who first fought fascism. They say the past never goes away and is still with us. That couldn’t be more true of the rise of fascism last century. Everyone hoped this evil creed had been stamped out for good with […]
Here’s an update from the Madrid-based Association of Friends of the International Brigades (AABI) on the campaign to stop Madrid City Council from building a waste recycling facility on top of a mass grave adjacent to Fuencarral cemetery (pictured above). The site is thought to contain the remains of some 451 International Brigaders, including several […]
Historian Daniel Gray draws connections between football and the Spanish Civil War, as personified by the Basque refugee children who became footballers in England. This article was published in issue 59 of ¡No pasarán! in January 2022. In October 1938, La Pasionaria described departing International Brigaders as examples of ‘the universality of democracy.’ The Basque refugee […]
