So I’ve been reading about the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil war, and it’s fascinating stuff, people.
As you know, people from many different countries came to fight against fascism in Spain in 1936-9. Did you know, however, that over a quarter of people in the Brigades were Jewish? And that the language the different battalions in the brigades used as their shared language of communication was Yiddish?
These Jewish fighters were all anti-Zionists because they saw nationalism as the root of all problems faced by the world in the 1930s.
Also, the majority of people in the Brigades had experienced multiple immigrations / displacements before coming to Spain to fight the forces that called themselves “Nationalists.”
My information comes from Helen Graham’s new book.
Clarissa's Blog 
This doesn’t surprise me. Various forms of socialism were more popular than Zionism among many Jewish intellectuals and activists up until the Holocaust. This link talks about Jews in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
http://www.alba-valb.org/resources/lessons/jewish-volunteers-in-the-spanish-civil-war/jewish-volunteers-in-the-spanish-civil-war
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“This doesn’t surprise me. Various forms of socialism were more popular than Zionism among many Jewish intellectuals and activists up until the Holocaust.”
– And it’s true even today. 🙂
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Probably fairer to say that Yiddish was one of the shared languages of the Brigades. Others were English, French and, of course, Spanish. Yiddish was certainly heard widely within the IB medical units.
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Welcome to the blog, Richard! It is great to have you here.
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I learned that last month reading a novel by Mordecai Richler.
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