You are now entering the Jewish Currents archive.
October 6: The Last Casualty
The last fallen member of the International Brigades in Spain, Haskel Honigstern, was given a state funeral in Barcelona on this date in 1938. The first casualty among these international volunteers who defended the government of Spain against Franco’s fascist uprising was also Jewish, Leon Baum, from Paris, killed in 1936. Jews comprised a quarter or more of the International Brigades, including 45 percent of the Polish brigade and more than a third of America’s Abraham Lincoln Brigade. (See Al Prago’s groundbreaking 1979 article in Jewish Currents at our Sid Resnick Historical Archive).
“For your freedom and ours” —Flag motto, in Yiddish, Polish and Spanish, of the Botwin Brigade, an all-Jewish contingent of the International Brigades
I’m Arielle Angel, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents. Before you go, there’s something I need to ask.
We’ve seen over and over how the mainstream media falters in telling stories on our beats—whether it’s antisemitism, Israel/Palestine in American politics, Jewish identity, or the American left. At Jewish Currents we’re committed to uncompromising analysis and longform reporting on these issues and more—stories you won’t find anywhere else. In a media landscape that obscures injustice and flattens discussion, we’re changing the conversation. But we need you.
If you believe in this work, please consider making a donation—or even better, a recurring one—to ensure that we are able to keep publishing stories like this one. We can’t do it without you.
