Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives: Small Photograph Collections 1928-1992

Carter, Edward A., Jr. 1916-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63x9nr6 (person)

Edward A. Carter (b. May 26, 1916, Los Angeles, CA-d. Jan. 30, 1963, Los Angeles, CA) was born in Los Angeles to missionary parents, and raised in Shanghai, China. As a teenager he joined the Chinese Nationalist Army to fight the Japanese, winning rapid advancement. He later joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and served in Spain, beginning in June 1937. Carter enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1941 and was shipped overseas in November 1944. In 1945, while stationed in Germany, Carter distin...

Rauschwald, Mark, 1908-1985

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67f8rw8 (person)

Mark Benjamin Rauschwald, the son of recent immigrants from Poland, was born in 1908 and grew up in New York City. After attending Cooper Union, Rauschwald joined the Commercial Artists and Designers Union and worked as a graphic artist. He sailed for Spain in March 1937, where he served in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion at Jarama and Brunete. He was wounded at Brunete. Rauschwald later worked with the Cultural Commission and in the Censors Office in Albacete. After returning to the States in Dec...

Siegel, Joseph

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69n08xk (person)

Joseph Isaac Siegel attended the Boston Latin School and Harvard University. He joined the International Brigades in Spain in July 1937, where he was initially assigned to the British Battalion in the medical corps as an ambulance driver, first aid worker, and stretcher bearer. Siegel then joined the Lincoln Washington Battalion and fought with the machine gun company on the Aragon front in the fall of 1937, among other battles. Siegel was repatriated to the U.S. in late 1938. He died in 1972. ...

Rochester, Sterling.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69f2vzr (person)

Friedman, Martin, 1914-1966.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jm3rjd (person)

Martin Friedman (1914-1966) fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War and worked as a union organizer with the International Association of Machinists for over 25 years. From the description of Papers, 1931-1966 (bulk 1937-1938). (New York University). WorldCat record id: 476062450 Martin Friedman was born into a working-class family in Trenton, New Jersey on November 24, 1914 to Morris and Rose Friedman. He came of age during the Depressi...

Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Bay Area Post

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6518xhn (corporateBody)

Chaikin, George, 1908-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ds8s8m (person)

George Chaikin (whose Communist Party name was George Auvan) was born in 1908 and raised in New York City. While at Princeton University, he was active in a movement to integrate movie theaters in Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton University in 1931. A mechanical engineer, Chaikin worked for the Works Progress Administration and taught at the Harlem Workers School. Active in politics, Chaikin was National Financial Secretary of the Young Communist League...

Jenkins, Irving

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63k0qgk (person)

Costanzo, Frank Carl, 1912-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60m86n2 (person)

Frank Carl Costanzo (1912-1937?) was a waiter and union member from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In early 1937, at 25 years old, Costanzo went to Spain to join the International Brigades, supporting the Loyalist cause in the Spanish Civil War. He hid the information that he had joined the war effort from his parents. After attending officers' training school, where he studied Spanish and military skills, Costanzo joined the staff of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, and went with them into heavy actio...

White, Milton, 1917-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w650167c (person)

Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran Milton White was born as Morris White in Cleveland in 1917 to Ephim "Hyman" White (born 1894 in Russia) and Tanya White (also known as Tania Martini). Within a few years, White was living in Brooklyn, where his parents were active in the Communist Party. In 1937, White volunteered for service in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. He left for Spain on the Paris on March 27, 1937. While...

Geiser, Carl

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68w3tp9 (person)

Carl Frederick Geiser was born in Orrville, Ohio on December 10, 1910. He was the oldest of six children and is maternal grandparents raised Geiser and his siblings. In the early 1930s, Geiser wrote press releases and edited International Labor Defense bulletins, organized for the League against War and Fascism, and in 1936 was elected to the National Committee of the Young Communist League. In 1937 Geiser joined the International Brigades and served in the Spanish Civil War. He served as an am...

Nelson, Steve, 1903-1993

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fj2x26 (person)

Steve Nelson was born Stjepan Mesaroš in Croatia, and emigrated to the United States with his family after World War I. He was a labor activist and organizer, Communist Party official, Political Commissar in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and National Commander of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB). During his time in Spain he took part in the Brunete offensive, as well as the battles of Quinto and Belchite. He was wounded at Belchite, and then was recalled to the United States by...

Bessie, Alvah Cecil, 1904-1985

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61v5cp5 (person)

Alvah Bessie (1904-1985) was an author and screenwriter who fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain, and was later blacklisted as one of the "Hollywood Ten" cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions at the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings on the influence of the Communist Party in the motion-picture industry. From the description of Papers, 1937-1991 (bulk 1936-1939, 1967-1985). (New York University). WorldCat record id: 476413154 ...

Kruth, Mito, 1899-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bq60jm (person)

Mito Kruth was born December 24, 1899 in Finland to Mathilda and Frank Kruth. When Mito was 12, his family moved from Finland to the United States and settled in Brooklyn. Much of the correspondence in this collection consists of letters exchanged between the Mito Kruth and his wife, Helen, who were often separated by their travels. The date of their marriage is uncertain, but by 1937-38 she was using the name Helen Kruth. Mito worked as an organizer for the Communist Pa...

Acker, Sylvia Boehm.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kz1cxs (person)

Abraham Lincoln brigade archives

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pg66mp (corporateBody)

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives: Small Photograph Collections is a compilation of images that have been separated from ALBA archival collections. For historical/biographical information on each individual, consult the guide to the corresponding manuscript collection. The images include scenes of the battlefield and daily life in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, Spanish civilians and locales during the War, portraits and group shots of American volunteers in Spain and in ...

Goddard, Howard, 1911-1997

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t88f3s (person)

Howard Goddard (1911-1997) was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. The family moved to Southern California in 1921 and he took his first job when he turned 13. After graduating from high school he worked in Trona, California for a chemical mining company. His experience organizing and fighting for union rights in this company town (which involves one of the first landmark cases successfully argued before the National Labor Relations Board) solidified his belief in the workers' cause and the internati...

Spain. Ejercito Popular de la Republica. Abraham Lincoln Battalion.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m7059x (corporateBody)

Cogswell, Theodore R.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f483xm (person)

Theodore Rose Cogswell was born in 1918 in Pennsylvania. In 1937, when he was 19, Cogswell told his parents he was going on vacation to France but instead he crossed the Pyrenees into Spain to join the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. He trained as a signalman with a machine gun company, but when it was discovered that he was under 21 he was transferred off the front lines, first to work as a truck driver, then later as an ambulance driver for the Hospital Pasionaria in Murcia. C...

Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c57872 (corporateBody)

VALB was formed in December 1937 by U.S. volunteers returning from combat in the Spanish Civil War. VALB originally assisted wounded veterans and sought to awaken the U.S. public to the significance of the Spanish Civil War and the Loyalist cause. In later years, VALB began to address other political issues, including U.S. policy in World War II and later, Cuba, Nicaragua and Vietnam. In addition to their headquarters in New York City, VALB "Posts" developed in various cities including Los Angel...

Colodny, Robert Garland

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w21nj0 (person)

Robert Garland Colodny (1915-1997) was born in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1936, after having been expelled from Columbia University for refusing to take certain courses, Colodny became a chemistry student at the University of Chicago; there he expressly sought out recruiters for the International Brigades. In February 1937, Colodny sailed for Spain on the Isle de France . By late summer, he had been shot between the eyes, contracted gangrene of the brain, and was expected to die. But he r...

Sack, Ely Joseph, 1937-1992.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jw9g56 (person)

Ely Joseph Sack was born on September 19, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. After graduating from New Utrecht High School in 1931, Sack worked at low-paying day jobs while attending night classes in accounting at the City College of New York's School of Commerce. Sack left the United States aboard the M/V Georgia to England on May 15, 1937. From England he traveled through France and over the Pyrenees to Spain to fight for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil...

Torgoff, Leonard Sloan, 1916-1937

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nm9c0w (person)

Leonard Sloan Torgoff was born in 1916. While attending Brooklyn College as an English major, Torgoff organized workers and led a successful strike against Feltman's Restaurant and hotdog stands in Coney Island, for whom he worked. When his mother died in January 1934, Torgoff took a leave of absence from school. Making his living as a plumber, he committed himself to becoming a writer and began to practice his craft. After a hitchhiking trip in Canada, Torgoff enrolled in night sch...

Spain. Ejército Popular de la República. Brigada Internacional, XV.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6716hd6 (corporateBody)

Wesson, Neil, 1906-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d37vjr (person)

Neil Wesson, nee Nathan Weisenfeld (1906-1974) was born in Detroit, Michigan to Polish Jewish Orthodox parents. As a young adult, Wesson worked in the mailroom of the Detroit Post Office, as a lumberjack in upper Michigan, and as a chemical worker at Dow in Midland. Wesson joined the Merchant Marine in 1932 and spent several months fighting the Japanese in Shanghai. Back in Detroit in 1933, seeing the effects of the Depression, Wesson became a dedicated Marxist. He worke...

Simon, Mildred Rackley, 1906-2003

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nt6rk0 (person)

Mildred Rackley Simon (1906-1992) was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico into a ranching family. After attending for one year at the University of Texas in Austin, Rackley received a teaching degree from the Las Vegas Normal School. In 1927, Rackley moved to Taos where she taught high school. She also began painting and drawing with the encouragement of Walter Ufer, prominent German painter and member of the Taos Society of Artists. Rackley became involved in the artists' colony, and the ...

Wendorf, Paul

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6461j21 (person)

Lossowski, Vincent, 1914-1984.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6155hrt (person)

Vincent Lossowski (1914-1984) was born and raised in Rochester, New York, into a Polish working class family. As a young man, he served in an artillery unit with the United States Army's Coast and Harbor Defenses in Panama. He returned to Rochester, worked as a machinist, and, in 1936, became active in the Young Communist League. A newsreel graphically depicting the fascist bombing of Madrid incited Lossowski to join the International Brigades to defend of the Spanish Republic. He s...

Rucker, James Bernard, 1912-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vm5t12 (person)

James Bernard (Bunny) Rucker was born in Roanoke, Virginia, on April 11, 1912 to James Oscar Rucker and Nancy Gabrella Garrett. He was the third child of a family of twelve siblings. Both of his parents attended classes at black colleges, his mother at Tuskegee in Alabama and his father at Harpur in Georgia. In order to escape the virulent racism of the South, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio where Rucker's father found work in a steel mill and served as a minister in the Christian Socialist m...

Lending, Edward Isaac, 1912-2003.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dv2038 (person)

Edward Isaac Lending (1912-2003) fought with the International Brigades in Spain and later served in the United States Army during World War II. From the description of Papers, 1937-1995 (bulk 1978-1995). (New York University). WorldCat record id: 476060327 Isaac Edward Lending was born March 24, 1912 and raised in the Bronx. His father, who ran a textile trimmings business, was a religious Jew and early member of the Zionist Organization of America. As a young ...

Sliwon, Boleslaw.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68v0n34 (person)

Cane, Lawrence, 1912-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m62m5x (person)

Lawrence Cane (who changed his name from Lawrence Cohen in 1939, after returning from the Spanish Civil War) was the son of working-class Russian-Jewish immigrant parents and was raised in East Harlem, New York. He attended City College, where he was on the student council, edited the college newspaper and was active in anti-Nazi protests. During the height of the Depression, Cane hopped freight trains across the United States. In July 1936, without telling his parents where he was going, he sai...

Begelman, Elias, 1912-1959.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gb39jn (person)

Elias Begelman (1912-1959) was born in Riga, Latvia and grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. Telling his mother he was going to Chicago, Begelman joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and went to Spain in January 1937. He saw heavy action on several fronts, and also served for a stint as translator and interpreter for Brigade headquarters (he spoke eight languages). He returned to the United States in October 1938. Begelman later served in World War II. Alternate spellings for...

Leider, Benjamin, 1901-1937

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wz3fdf (person)

Benjamin Leider was born in Kishinev, Russia in 1901. Many of his relatives were killed in the 1905 Kishinev massacre carried out by the Czarist regime against the Jews in Russia. The Leider family was helped by a Christian butcher who hid the family in his home. In 1905, his family came to America and settled in Brooklyn where his father worked chipping mortar from second-hand bricks. He graduated from Brooklyn Commercial High School where he ran track and cross-country, wrestled, ...

Hakam, Harry, 1913-1996

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hc52v6 (person)

Harry Hakam was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1913. His father was a building contractor. Hakam finished two years of college and three years of union courses in electrical engineering before sailing for Spain in February 1936. He was among the first Americans to join the International Brigades. In Spain, Hakam started out as a machine-gunner, then became a runner in a communications unit in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, taking part in the Jarama, Brunete and Aragon offensives. Later...