Jūlijs Jenšs: Commander of the Thälmann Battalion.

• Born in Poland, 1905.
• Day labourer in Riga
• Degree on economic studies in London.
• Arrived in Spain in October, 1936. Came with the first British volunteers
• Commander of the Thaelmann Battalion. Since December 15,1936
• Killed in action on December 20, 1936 in Boadilla
• One of the first Latvians killed in action

Between December 1936 and January 1937, Franco’s army launched a second major operation in order to capture Madrid. Unlike the previous offensive, this was an ”enveloping operation”, the idea was to cut the communications between the capital and the Republican northern front in Guadarrama by capturing A Coruña Road (current A-6 road). The operation had three different phases, until January 7, 1937, when the rebel troops finally captured the villages which enclosed the route of this road. In this important battle was killed Jūlijs Jenšs, a Latvian who commanded the Thälmann Battalion.

Eduards Upesleja

Eduards Upesleja. Spain, 1937 / Latvijas Cīnītāji Spānijā (1966)

• Date and city of birth: 1914, Liepaja.
• Profession: Actor and labour worker
• Residence place: He lived in Jelgava (Address: Vidvuda iela 10, dzvivokli num. 20)
• Military experience: Latvian National Army– Artillery
• Political affiliation: LKP – Literature and Drama section,
•                                        He joined the PCE (the Spanish CP) on November, 1938.
• Police records: Arrested in 1938
• Arrival in Spain: August 13, 1938
• Military unit: XIIIth International Brigade– 51st Battalion
• Fronts: Ebro
• Departure: He crossed the French border on 9th February 1939
• Imprisonment: Gurs concentration camp
•                                Repatriated to Moscow (July 1939) through Soviet diplomacy
• WW2: Red Army, killed in action in September,1941

Eduards Uspeleja was a 24-years old political activist when he volunteered for Spain. He was born in Liepaja but grew up in Jelgava. There he carried out his most intense political life, very related to the Arts field. When he began, by 1936, the military service, he had already written more than 10 articles on the Latvian left-wing newspapers ”Brivais Jaunatne” (Free Youth) and ”Cīnas” (The Fight). He was assigned to the artillery battalion of the Latvian National Army placed in Kurzeme. From his fragmented memoirs* we can infer that he felt isolated and afraid in the army. However he concluded his military service by fall 1937 and returned to Jelgava.

A social picture: Who were they?

Nowadays it becomes evident that the feat of the International Brigades has been aim of certain degree of mystification, distorting surely their genuine social picture. Of course, it is a difficult task for the historian to make a general outline of the -approximately- 35.000 volunteers from 54 countries (out of the 56 independent and recognized countries within the League of Nations in 1936). But it is possible to point out some general characteristics and features about their socio-political roots: they were men and women from different races, social classes, religious beliefs and political convictions who considered Spain as the first open battlefield again International Fascism.

Group of Polish miners from the mines of northern France. Albacete Bullring, 1936 / Archives of the University of Salford Manchester

Before getting started analyzing the Latvian volunteers, let’s summarize some of their basic features and characteristics:

• Both Latvian men and women (Servicio Sanitario Internacional) participated in the IB
• Mostly labour workers (about 80%)
• Average age at the moment of enrollment: 28 years old. (Born in 1905-1915)
• Specially from industrial areas (Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja)
• They raised-up in a traumatized society (WW1)
• Minority of highly educated volunteers (engineers, doctors, nurses)
• Many of them were already military trained within the Latvian Army 
• Few WW1 veterans and Russian Civil War veterans
• They were a multi-ethnic group (Latvians, Jewish, Slavs)
• Large Communist affiliation among them (under Soviet trend)
• Notorious political activism prior Spanish Civil War
• Multilingual skills

Leavitt, Isadore / Cooper, Jack

Isadore Levitt, April 1938 / ALBA Photo number 11-0147. Tamiment Library/ Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

• Leavitt, Isadore; Cooper, Jack and Levitt, Isidore
• Born on 8th (10th) December, 1910, Riga (Latvia). Jewish
• Latvian immigrant. Ohio (USA). US citizen since 1931
• Profession: Painter
• Arrival in Spain: June 18, 1937
• Units: XVth International Brigade. Machine gun company,            Head Staff.
• Battlefronts: Brunete, Aragón, Ebro
• Rank:Liutenant promoted to Captain.
• Departure: Returned to the US on December 15, 1938 aboard the Paris
• United States Army during WWII between 1944 and 1946
• Died on February 6, 1979, in Florida.

Isadore Leavitt (commonly known as Jack Cooper since the 30’s) was another Latvian Jewish immigrant in North America who fled with his parents from their hometown, Riga, during the end of the Tsarist rule.

Elias Biegelman: a Latvian American in Spain

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives /        RA Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 862.

• Elias Begelman aka Biegelman, Eli; ”Sims”; ”Beal”
• Born on 24th August, 1912, Riga (Latvia).
• Profession: Metal Worker and Mechanic
• Arrival: Sailed December 26, 1936 aboard the Normandie; Arrived in Spain on January 2, 1937;
• Units: XV International Brigade, Lincoln battalion.
• Battlefronts: Jarama, Quinto
• Rank: translator and interpreter for the IB headquarters (8 languages);
• Departure: Returned to the US on October 1, 1938 aboard the Paris.
• United States Army during WWII.
• Died in 1959.

Elias Begelman (1912-1959) was born into a Jewish family in  Riga, from where he immigrated with his family and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. By the end of 1936, telling his mother he was going to Chicago for job reasons, Begelman joined the first group of American volunteers that departed from the United States in December 1936. It was composed

Help bonds: Lats for Spain!

Before an organized mobilization of international volunteers took place, left wing organizations from all the world carried out supportive activities towards the cause of the Republic. One of the widest tasks which was aimed during the first months was the collection of economic funds to stop fascism in Spain.

In Latvia it was carried out by activists related to the Communist Party (LKP) and the MOPR (International Red Aid). On the picture below we can observe a donation list of the funds collection campaign carried out by the clandestine and revolutionary-oriented newspaper Cīnas (The Fight, in Latvian).  These tasks were highly prosecuted by Ulmanis’s police and risky for those activists. As we will see, the Latvian authorities enforced laws in order to avoid the support of the Republicans in Spain.

Donation list Nº 242. Cinas. / Latvijas Kara Muzejs

These donation lists were probably used during the fall 1936. It emphazises on the concept of ”fighting fascism in Spain is fighting our domestic fascism” and it asks for indivual donations for the Spanish republicans. Their lats (the Latvian currency, today deceased) and santims were turned into provisions and winter clothes for the civilians who are already suffering Francoist bombings in Madrid.

It would be very interesting to study the contribution of money sent by Latvians through the supportive organizations to the Spanish cause. However it seems to be all a challenge for nowadays historian.

Introduction

Wounded Latvians at Murcia’s hospital, summer 1937 / Latvijas Kara Muzejs I identify Levs Cernins (right) and Juris Klimkāns (left)

The Spanish Civil War gained, since its very beginning, characteristic features of an international conflict. The rebellion, supported by Nazi Germany and Italy, faced a Spanish Republic isolated in terms of diplomacy. But besides the coercive attitude of the European governments and the whole Non-Intervention Committee, thousands of their citizens from all the countries sympathized the antifascist cause of the Spanish people. While the government of the Republic had to go out of its way to get political and weaponry backing, propaganda campaigns were launched in order to get political support.

About us

Brīvprātīgie aims to become a cultural project through the active recovery of historical memory of the Latvian International Brigadistas. It aspires to be a convergence site of documentation and audio-visual materials for research and learning. Also it wishes to become a contact platform for scholars from all the world and families.

To this effect, Brīvprātīgie project is committed:

• To cultivate historical memory of those Latvian women and men who volunteered for fighting international fascism in Spain, their experiences in the French concentration camps, as well as their struggle during the WW2 and the Holocaust.

• To teach and raise awareness of authoritarianism and totalitarianism, mass atrocities and state violence (in any form and origin) aiming the education of a new generation of human rights activists and historical memory defenders for nowadays world.

• To promote an active online learning experience that connects historical memory to documentation: primary sources from diverse international archives, oral testimonies, war photographies, journalistic reports and bibliography. In order to achieve this goal, Brīvprātīgie wills to establish and compile a resources depositoryfor researchers and interested relatives.

• To organize cultural and educational historical memory events and seminars within the frame of university and cultural institutions. focused on recovering and keeping alive the historical tale and the collective memory of the Latvian brigadistas. By bringing the past into the present, we are also forming a new space for dialogue and critique on ideological and political conflicts.

• To contribute to the publication and spread of studies and materials related to the role of the Latvians during the Spanish Civil War.

Welcome to an episode of the Latvian history that remains in the oblivion. Feel always free to participate through this online platform and to place all your questions, reflections and requests.

2016