ייִדן קעגן פֿאַשיזם Yidn kegn fashizm - Jews against Fascism

The eruption of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in the summer of 1936 was a momentous event in the global struggle against Fascism. The war pitted the democratically elected government of the Spanish Republic against the forces of General Francisco Franco, whose attempted coup in July of 1936 sparked the fighting. Franco soon gained the support of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Spanish Republic, which sought in vain the help of France, Britain, and the United States, received financial and military aid from the Soviet Union. Progressives and leftists from around the world travelled to Spain in the International Brigades, committed to defending the Republic against the onslaught of Fascism.

Nearly one third of the Americans who went to Spain with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were Jewish, many of them native Yiddish speakers. In the early 1990s, Joe Butwin traversed the United States, recording his conversations with 40 Jewish…