Comments on: Hill 666: A search for a lost relative ends on a blasted hillside in Catalonia

By: Albert

Albert — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:04:50 +0000

Thank you for rembering our beloved fighters. Catalan people will always remember this war, so we will remember those fighters too. They were the only who helped us.

From Catalonia: Thank you so much!

By: Sammy Sullivan

Sammy Sullivan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:52:49 +0000

Kewl site man…

keep up the good work man…….

By: Ray Andrews

Ray Andrews — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:02:05 +0000

Hello, I am the great nephew of Samuel Walters (Sam) referred to above and of the songbook. Uncle Sam was a merchant navy officer before going to Spain as part of the CP group. He is listed in the Hull Guildhall Plaque. Uncle Sam died in the 1970’s and rarely spoke of Spain. On his return and on the outbreak of the 2nd World War he moved to Cowden on the east yorkshire coast and spent his cash buying up food store as he thought that, as in Spain, food would be short.

Uncle Sam was part of the Walters (Welsh roots) and Andrews family who were working class and politically active in the CP, LP and Co-op movement and in the T&G union on the fish dock and docks. There are still a lot of us around. If anyone wants more information on Uncle Sam pleasae let me know and I will do what I can. We are very proud of him.

This is the first time that I have been able to get specific information on him. This seem to be due in part to the number of sites dealing the the American figher and phototgraper of the same name.

Rargards

Ray Andrews

By: A search for a lost relative ends on a blasted hillside in Catalonia « Hill 666

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:13:42 +0000

[...] Hartman Says: July 26, 2007 at 1:17 am eA minor footnote on the comment that “So many International Brigade volunteers were Jews that [...]

By: Geoff Lawes

Geoff Lawes — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:32 +0000

Hi Jonathan, I sent photographs of the songbook to Jim Carmody of the International Brigades Memorial Trust who through his extensive knowledge and research concluded that the signatures were written at Tarazona,near Albacete which was the main training base of the English speaking Battalions. He says that some of the signatures in the songbook are of base personnel such as instructors and that most of the British men who signed will have arrived in Spain between September 1937 and November ,1937.

By: roy ormond

roy ormond — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:12:44 +0000

80% of the volunteers were members of the YCL and/or communist party.The communists marched in the vanguard -and ‘is sure to triumph in the end’. The alternative? Fascism as seen as the life under Franco. That Franco Spain was allowed to continue after WW2 ,by the West, is a disgrace to the memory of all who fought, suffered and died under fascism.
Today,s message – ‘they shall not pass’.

By: Geoff Lawes

Geoff Lawes — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:36:08 +0000

Hi Jonathan,
An exciting discovery. In my quest to trace what I can of the eight Hull volunteers I have been to visit Stan Suddaby who is a former secretary of Hull Trades Council and a former member of the Communist Party. He was very active in local trade union activity and knew two of the Hull brigaders who returned from the Spanish Civil War; Sam Walters and Joe Latus,who is shown in your second picture from the top standing next to Morris Miller. Stan has a song book given to him by Sam Walters which Sam seems to have used as an autograph book while in Spain. I have found Morris Miller’s signature in the book and I am E mailing a photograph of it to you so that you can put it up on your site if you wish. You will see his name on the right hand page above the book title ‘Kampflieder’. The signature of Joe Latus can be seen, second from the top on the left hand page.

By: Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:41:49 +0000

Geoff Lawes has sent me this interesting e-mail which he has given me permission to post:

Hi Jonathan, a quick e mail to alert you to confusions around the second song to which you provide a link on your site. The song you play is the same recording as the one on this site http://lacucaracha.info/scw/music/index.htm where it is given the title Viva la quinta brigada .

The singer certainly seems to be singing quinta and this version of the Ay Carmela song refers to the Fifth Brigade which was not one of the International Brigades. Debate about this leaves me somewhat confused as I understand that there might be a version of essentially the same song called Viva La Quince Brigade referring to the Fifteenth Brigade. The Wikipedia entry here seems to suggest that there is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viva_la_Quinta_Brigada_%28song%29

but I am left confused because it prints words to Quince Brigade but its link is to the same version of Quinta Brigade as your site plays. I have not managed to hear a Spanish language version of the song where they are actually singing Quince and wonder whether the idea that there is a version of this song referring to the 15th brigade is not just a mistake made by non-native Spanish speakers. I have come across the confusion elsewhere on folk music sites where it is further muddled with the modern and completely different Christy Moore song Viva La Quince Brigade which is about the Irish Connolly Column which was part of the 15th brigade. If I can get a clearer lead on this I will let you know. Regards, Geoff

By: Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:48:37 +0000

On the point of the name Sam – I am pretty sure there was also a Sam Miller. I have never heard Morris referred to as Sam.

By: Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:46:45 +0000

I thank mr Sugarman for his contributions and agree that it is remarkable that so many Jews were involved although maybe not too remarkable as these young men (mostly) were intelligent and well able to read the portents of fascism. I think it is wrong to say Zionism deserves credit even if some of the volunteers were also Zionists or Yiddish was sometimes a common language. There were also many non-Jews in the IB and what many of them had in common was not zionism or being Jewish but the fact that they were communists. I do not know what Martin means by ‘acknowledging Zionism’ – does he mean that Zionism is justified by the participation of Zionist volunteers for the Republic? I do not want to get into a big argument about Zionism here. Or any argument. I am against it. There are other places to argue its lack of merit. I will limit myself to defending those who are its victims.