Milton Wolff and the Spanish Civil War

 

 

 Milton Wolff, the last commander of the Spanish Civil War's legendary Abraham Lincoln Battalion and a well known peace and civil rights activist, is now the author of three autobiographical novels: Another Hill (University of Illinois Press), A Member of the Working Class (coming soon), and The Premature Antifascist, about World War II.

Another Hill, which tells the story of two American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War "from a worm's-eye view," was the first novel ever published by the University of Illinois Press.


   In 1931 Spain elected its first democratic government. However, widespread land reform and separation of church and state brought the new government many enemies among the wealthy, among monarchists, and within the Roman Catholic church. In 1936, General Franco and others, aided by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, revolted against the government and began the conflict now known as the Spanish Civil War.
   Although the Spanish government had been democratically elected, little support was forthcoming from other democratic nations. The USSR became one of its only allies in the fight against fascism.
   While the governments of most nations remained neutral, there was much popular sympathy for Spain around the world. Before long, volunteers from many nations arrived in Spain to form the so-called "International Brigades." The International Brigades fought alongside the Spanish troops until late in 1938, when they were returned to their respective countries. Shortly thereafter, Republican Spain fell to the fascists. General Franco became dictator and ruled until his death in 1975.

When the American volunteers were pulled out of Spain late in 1938, Ernest Hemingway penned an apt description of the young Wolff:

"...23 years old, tall as Lincoln, gaunt as Lincoln, and as brave and as good a soldier as any that commanded battalions at Gettysburg. He is alive and unhit by the same hazard that leaves one tall palm tree standing where a hurricane has passed."

Who was this young soldier who emerged unscathed from some of Spain's bloodiest battles?
   Milton Wolff arrived in Spain in March of 1937. He trained first as a medic and then as a machine gunner with the Washington Battalion (later the Lincoln-Washington). He fought in the battles of Brunete, Quinto, and Belchite. By Fuentes de Ebro, he was commander of a machine gun company. By Teruel, he was captain and adjutant. Then, when Commander Dave Reiss was killed, Wolff took over the battalion, eventually leading it in a great offensive across the Ebro and into the Sierra Pandols. Ultimately, though, the League of Nations pulled the International Brigades out of Spain. Wolff and his comrades were sent home, and Republican Spain fell to the fascist insurgents.
   Once back in the United States, Wolff continued to fight fascism as a speaker and writer. Like many other American veterans of the Spanish war, however, he found that he was viewed with suspicion by the U.S. government. During World War II, he was branded a "premature anti-fascist" and shunted away from the front. Even so, Wolff managed to see action in Italy and Burma.
   During the fifties, Wolff and other Lincoln Brigade veterans became prime targets in the anti-Communist hysteria. They continued to speak out against fascism, and to this day fight for human rights around the globe.

 

 

Milton Wolff in Spain

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Photographs from the Spanish Civil War

Drawings and paintings by Milton Wolff

This site in other languages:

  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • German
  • French

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA)

Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB)

Other Spanish Civil War sites

Site designed by Karla Huebner. This site © Milton Wolff 1998.