ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: How did the prisoners communicate with each other, since they weren’t allowed to speak?
Last week we had a roundtable discussion with eight children and grandchildren of members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Americans who came to Spain in 1936 to defend the elected government of the Republic against the fascist coup that was perpetrated by Francisco Franco and supported by Hitler and Mussolini. They came to participate in the annual commemoration of the Jarama battle, in which the International Brigades played an important part. Many of the brigadistas were taken prisoner during the war and held in the San Pedro de Cardeña Monastery, near the city of Burgos, which had been converted into a concentration camp. This week we’re speaking with Nancy Wallach and Linda Geiser, who participated in last week’s discussion, and whose fathers were held prisoner there.
Nancy is active in ALBA, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives organization, and tells us about the work they are doing to educate people about the Spanish Civil War, as well as about her father’s experiences as a prisoner of Franco. Linda Geiser will tell us why she came to this commemoration and also about her father’s book, Prisoners of the Good Fight, about the prisoners from all over the world who were held in the San Pedro de Cardeña concentration camp.
