Culture relaunches the Historical Archive of Social Movements with a legacy of two,100 pictures and paperwork from the International Brigades | Culture | EUROtoday

Walter was the nom de guerre of Karol Swierczewski, a Pole born in 1897 who, after collaborating within the Soviet Revolution, turned a common within the Red Army. In October 1936 he assumed command of the XIV International Brigade in the course of the Civil War, a kind of fashioned by greater than 35,000 volunteers who got here from 50 international locations to struggle towards fascism within the Popular Army of the Republic. During the conflict, pictures had been taken of Walter with the troopers, in Belchite, from the command submit… A set of 333 photos which are already a part of the Historical Archive of Social Movements, created in October 2021, however that till now had remained in hibernation. This Wednesday, the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, introduced on the General Administration Archive (AGA), in Alcalá de Henares, that a number of collections are included into the reborn archive, amongst which stands out that of the Association of Friends of the International Brigades (AABI).

Along with the two,112 photos from between 1936 and 1938, the legacy of this affiliation, created in 1995, consists of movie recordings, paperwork, such because the information that had been made for every brigade member once they arrived or the manuscripts themselves left by these troopers; objects and books, defined Carlos Domínguez, its spokesperson. In addition to preserving this materials, saved in 82 packing containers, its cataloging and digitization will start, “so that it will be available to researchers from September,” Urtasun burdened. Documents will even be included for session on the not too long ago launched web site of the Historical Archive of Social Movements.

However, when Urtasun was requested in regards to the materials sources and personnel out there to the archive, which began with out them throughout Miquel Iceta's time as Minister of Culture, he acknowledged that “they are working on having its own headquarters, but until then will be at the AGA.”

With Iceta, it had also been announced that the archive would house legacies of associations and groups from the final years of Francoism and the Transition, not from the Civil War. Regarding this, Urtasun has declared that “what is meant is to protect the reminiscence of the struggle for democracy of so many associations in the course of the Franco regime, so it’s coherent that the International Brigades are there.”

He has also been asked if it would not be more logical for the brigade legacy to be in a specialized space, such as the Documentary Center of Historical Memory, in Salamanca. Urtasun has responded that it was the Association of Friends of the Brigades itself that addressed Culture. In any case, the minister has highlighted the importance of this initiative “towards those that promote oblivion and contempt for the victims of the dictatorship.” “The International Brigades symbolize hope in democracy in a Europe then doomed to wars and totalitarianism.”

Transfer from Albacete and Salamanca

For his part, Domínguez has stressed that the documentation of the association he represents has been in the Provincial Archive of Albacete for 25 years, and that with the agreement he hopes that it will now be “easier to consult for any citizen who travels to Alcalá and not to Salamanca or Albacete.” In his speech he recalled that of those young volunteers “about 10,000 died.” “When they enlisted, many did not even know where Spain was,” and he has mentioned some well-known brigade members, such as Esmond Romilly, nephew of Winston Churchill, or John Cornford, great-grandson of Charles Darwin. “The lives of these people should not be forgotten.”

In addition, the legacies of feminist entities, such as the Flora Tristán Provincial Federation of Women's Associations and the Feminist Research and Training Center, are incorporated into the Archive of Social Movements, managed by the General Subdirectorate of State Archives. “There are more than 400 boxes, with objects, cassettes and other audiovisual and bibliographic materials,” Culture reported. From the union world there is the material from the May 1st Foundation, from the Comisiones Obreras union. Likewise, documents from the Communist Party of Spain, although nothing more has been specified.

Also noteworthy is the personal file of the jurist Juan José del Águila Torres, “lawyer and founder of the first labor law firm linked to Comisiones Obreras.” A figure who defended workers in the last stage of the dictatorship and from which 350 boxes of documentation arrive that will allow “higher information of the strategies of repression and the restoration of labor rights.” Another personal archive is that of the socialist senator Fermín Solana (1928-2022), “with more than 200 boxes of information about regions of Spain, press clippings, notes and personal objects.”

Among others, there are also the archives of the Espacio Afro cultural center in Madrid, “which aims to vindicate people of African descent in Spain,” and those of the Pasaje Begoña Association and the Pedro Zerolo Foundation, both of the LGTBI collective.