Descendants of International Brigaders can now seek Spanish nationality under the terms of a new law that was enacted by the Cortes (Spanish parliament) last year. Article 33 of the Democratic Memory Law offers citizenship to those family members who can prove that they have ‘worked continuously to spread the memory of their ancestors and […]
Ajmal Waqif, IBMT Executive Officer, reviews '¡Brigadistas! An American Anti-fascist in the Spanish Civil War’ by Miguel Ferguson and Anne Timmons, edited by Paul Buhle and Fraser Otanelli (Monthly Review Press, 2022). This piece was originally published in ¡No Pasaran! 1-2023. This graphic novel follows the heroic adventures of a trio of fictional International Brigade […]
Nancy Phillips, member of the IBMT and the Friends and Family of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (FFALB), tells the story of the Swiss aid worker who saved hundreds of children from the horrors of fascism in the 1930s and 40s, running a maternity hospital near the French-Spanish border. This piece was originally shared with the […]
Artist Josh Knowles is producing a graphic novel that tells the story of his grandfather, International Brigader Leslie ‘Les’ Starr, to be published this year. He is interviewed here by IBMT Executive Officer Ajmal Waqif. Tell us who you are and what you do. I’m an artist and illustrator interested in the connections between pop […]
This excerpt is reproduced from the British Battalion souvenir booklet, published and sold by the International Brigade Wounded and Dependants’ Aid Committee for the first British Battalion memorial meeting held on 8 January 1939 a few months after the British volunteers’ return. The author contrasts the urgency of what they experienced in Spain with the […]
Geoff Cowling, former IBMT Trustee who served as Britain’s Consul General in Barcelona for many years, has written to the IBMT with a report and photos from a revisit to the British Cemetery in Tarragona on 27 February 2023. In 2008 Cowling initiated the restoration of the graves of the nine British merchant seamen buried […]
This month the IBMT will begin publishing online the audio files from our collection of over 90 interviews with International Brigaders and people involved in the Aid Spain movement. Those interviewed include Bob Cooney, Harry Fraser, Nan Green, Peter Kerrigan, Maurice Levine, Winifred Sandford, Mary Slater, Lillian Urmston, Sam Wild and many more. New interviews […]
IBMT Historical Consultant Richard Baxell presents the story of British volunteer Malcolm Dunbar. Highly respected at the time for his service as commanding officer of the Anti-Tank Battery and later as chief of staff to the 15th Brigade, he is oddly under-remembered today. It is now nearly 90 years since the end of the Spanish […]
Rob MacDonald, member of the IBMT and the affiliated North West International Brigade Memorial Group, reports on the annual Jarama commemoration in Manchester held on 11 February 2023. The North West International Brigade Memorial Group's Jarama commemoration was held at Manchester Central Library on 11 February, with a range of illustrated talks, songs, poems and […]
This report of the Battle of Jarama commemoration in Stockton, held on 12 February 2023, was provided by IBMT North East member and activist Tony Fox. A longer version is available to read on his blog here. At 11am on 12 February 2023 IBMT members, supporters and friends in Stockton assembed to commemorate the British […]
This piece, originally shared in the Friends and Family of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (FFALB) Google Group, tells the story of the 13th Dąbrowski Brigade, which fought on the side of the Spanish Republic as part of the International Brigades. It also highlights the role of the Polish International Brigade memorial organisation, the Volunteers of […]
Last month north-west IBMT activist Graham Briggs produced a pamphlet connecting the history of Rochdale with the Spanish Civil War. Available through the Touchstones museum, ‘The Rochdale Connection’ tells the stories of the nine known International Brigade volunteers who fought in Spain and are linked to the town. The pamphlet is the product of months […]
