Spanish researchers revealed their latest findings, identifying 357 foreign fighters who went missing during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), a pivotal conflict that foreshadowed World War II.
According to a government statement on Sunday, the researchers successfully confirmed the names of 212 fighters hailing from Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. The breakdown showed that 102 fighters were of German origin, 70 were Austrian, and 40 were Dutch. However, no specific information was provided regarding fighters of other nationalities.
These combatants were part of the International Brigades, military units established by the Communist International to combat General Francisco Franco’s fascist forces. About 40,000 foreign men and women volunteered to join the Brigades, fighting alongside the forces of the democratic Second Spanish Republic, opposing the rise of fascism in Europe during the late 1930s.
The research, which spanned a year, involved sifting through documentary archives in both Spain and Russia. The team meticulously examined the daily lists of casualties and missing soldiers compiled by International Brigades officers. A significant challenge arose from the omission of private soldiers’ names from these lists, complicating the process. The archives in Moscow’s Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and Spain’s main archives on the Spanish Civil War were valuable resources.
Through a cross-referencing process, the researchers were able to determine the probable locations where the soldiers lost their lives or suffered severe injuries. This crucial information could lead to the discovery of their remains in scattered mass graves across the country.
Alfons Aragoneses, the project’s head, emphasized the significance of the research, as it provides valuable data enabling them to contact the families of the missing combatants and potentially intervene in the identified mass graves.
The identified individuals were part of the Thälmann Brigade, a Communist unit primarily composed of anti-Nazi Germans. This battalion played an active role on the Ebro Riverfront in northeastern Spain between March and September 1938, the site of the war’s longest and deadliest battle.
The ongoing research is financed by the Catalan regional government and aims to contribute to the country’s historical memory. The project’s second phase will focus on identifying missing militiamen from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. The final stage involves the daunting task of exhuming graves in search of the fallen fighters’ remains.
Historians estimate that nearly 10,000 foreign volunteers lost their lives in combat on Spanish soil during the war, but the exact number of unidentified fighters still buried in graves remains unknown.
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The Spanish Civil War was an important testing ground for Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy prior to the outbreak of World War II. The Republic’s democratic government received international support in an attempt to fend off its eventual defeat at the hands of Franco in 1939.
