Abraham Lincoln Brigade Veterans and Supporters Celebrate 70th anniversary of Despedida

Farida Jhabvala-Romero, Nov 13, 2008


The 70th anniversary of the farewell or despedida to the Spanish Civil War’s International Brigades - thousands of volunteers who fought for the Spanish democratic government from 1936 to 1939 - was celebrated last Saturday November 1st in San Francisco.

“They were people who wanted to fight for international social justice,” said Richard Bermack, 58, author of The Frontlines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Art Director of ALBA’s journal The Volunteer. “They believed in freedom for everyone, that people are responsible for other people.”



Hilda Roberts, one of the few surviving veterans and a prominent Bay Area activist, and her daughter. Roberts was a nurse in the Spanish Civil War. Photo by Richard Bermack.

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In July 1936, Spanish armed forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco rebelled against the elected Republican Government. When Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy provided military and financial aid to Franco’s forces - while the US, Britain and France declared neutrality and an arms embargo - an estimated 40,000 volunteers from 52 nations joined the war to defend the Spanish democracy.

The Brigades “were fighting against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy’s expansion through Europe,” said Peter Carroll, Chair of ALBA’s Board of Governors and author of The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. “Obviously, they also fought against Fascist racism. The Lincoln Brigade was the first fully integrated army of Americans – long before the US Army ordered desegregation.”


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