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Echoes of the Spanish Civil War in Palestine
Raanan Rein and Inbal Ofer
Raanan Rein holds the EliŽas Sourasky Chair of Ibero and Latin-American Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of numerous books and articles on 20th century Spain and Argentina. His In the Shadow of Peron was recently published by Stanford University Press.
Inbal Ofer specializes in issues of gender and urban history in 20th century Spain. Her Seņoritas in Blue: the Making of a Female Political Elite in Franco's Spain was recently published by SAP.
For
those who lived through it – whether on the bloody battlefields
of Spain, in its hungry and war-stricken cities, or through the
lens of newsreels and solidarity campaigns – the Spanish Civil
War was a life changing event. In a century rife with “total”
wars, the events that took place in Spain between the years 1936–1939
still echo loudly. In its struggle for survival, the Second Republic
succeeded in rallying to its support almost 40,000 volunteers from
53 different countries. But as the vast literature on the International
Brigades testifies, for the majority of volunteers the definitions
of “friend” and “foe” or of “right”
and “wrong” in the Spanish context were inter-changeable
with those constructed "back home". For those who had already lost
the struggle against Fascism in their native countries, as well
as for those who were about to face it, Spain was a crucial juncture.
… This book examines the reactions of Jewish society in Palestine
to the civil war, as well as the story of the volunteers who left
Palestine in order to fight for the Republic. Despite much ideological
sympathy, active support for the Spanish Republic was neither unequivocal
nor unconditional. Rather, solidarity with Spain was manifested
and perceived first and foremost through the prism of local political
reality. After presenting the historical context of society and
politics the volume analyzes the reactions of the Hebrew press and
of the different political parties and civil associations to the
Iberian War; examines the role played by Jewish volunteers in the
International Brigades in general, and of those arriving from Palestine
in particular; discusses the volunteers’ “Spanish experience”
as reflected in personal interviews and memoirs; and lastly addresses
issues of history and memory, both personal and collective, particularly
the appropriation of the memory of the Jewish volunteers.
