This is the epic story of those tens of thousands of communists exiled from Spain after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War. With their iron discipline and fervent dedication to Stalin's cause, they did not hesitate, when the moment came in the Second World War, to throw themselves again into the struggle against fascism. In the Service of Stalin is the first full scholarly study of their experiences. David Wingeate Pike examines the contribution of the Spanish communists to the resistance in France and recounts their sufferings in Mauthausen, the concentration camp in Austria to which most who were captured were consigned. He also traces the experiences of those thousands who were admitted into the Soviet Union, where they fought in the Red Army or languished and perished in the prisons and slave camps of the Gulag. Professor Pike's unparalleled access to the archives, many previously unexplored, and the information derived from his interviews with survivors combine to make this both an important addition to our knowledge of the Second World War and an enthralling, often moving account of the experiences of some of its participants.

This important work focuses on the experience of the large Spanish contingent within the Mauthausen concentration camp, one of the least known but most terrible camps in Nazi Germany. Refugees from the repercussions of the Civil War, 7,000 Spanish Republicans were arrested in France by the invading Nazis in the collapse of 1940. A microcosm of the experience of national prisoner communities, their story possesses a unique historical value. No other national group succeeded in placing its members in all the key clerical positions in the SS administration, and no other group managed to hide and save all its basic records. Vilified by Franco and condemned by Hitler, their story makes an outstanding contribution to the literature of the holocaust.

This important work focuses on the experience of the large Spanish contingent within the Mauthausen concentration camp, one of the least known but most terrible camps in Nazi Germany. Refugees from the repercussions of the Civil War, 7,000 Spanish Republicans were arrested in France by the invading Nazis in the collapse of 1940. A microcosm of the experience of national prisoner communities, their story possesses a unique historical value. No other national group succeeded in placing its members in all the key clerical positions in the SS administration, and no other group managed to hide and save all its basic records.
Vilified by Franco and condemned by Hitler, their story makes an outstanding contribution to the literature of the holocaust.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203361237

This book sets out to analyse the schism in French public opinion during the Spanish Civil War that was to end in the tragic collapse of French national unity. It makes no claim to being a new history of the conflict, or even of the international events surrounding it. It touches only cursorily upon the events in Spain proper. It considers only tangentially French public opinion in regard to the two Spains. Instead, it examines how the French people viewed their position in the international imbroglio swirling around the Spanish question, and how news was manipulated as never before. And since opinion polls were inexistent and radio commentary had little influence, almost the only means of gauging public opinion is the press. Mainstream historical fact is presented merely as the skeleton on which French press reportage is grafted. Included in the historical material is the author's research in the archives of all five of the French departements bordering on Spain. Within the press, four areas predominate: editorial opinion; propaganda; French correspondents in Spain; and collateral events in France (frontier incidents, arms supplies, foreign volunteers, and espionage activities). The work is divided into two parts, the chronological hiatus coming in December 1936. This division is explained by the policy formulated by the democracies that went through no appreciable change; a policy sufficiently strong, perhaps, to deter the Axis powers from all-out intervention in Spain, but weak enough to allow them to pursue with impunity a victory by attrition. The periodic opening and closing of the French frontier played no decisive part in the outcome, since French aid to the Spanish Republic never came close to what the Axis provided the Nationalists. The book ends with the agony of the Republican exodus. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

So long as women are considered inferior human beings, crimes against women will not be considered as crimes against humanity. The problem cannot be solved simply by women achieving economic freedom and education, but can only be solved by exposing, and then changing, cultural traditions, customs and religious practices that harm humanity by debasing women. When men are tortured, it is considered a crime. When women are tortured, it is dismissed as a custom, a part of the tradition. Millions of people literally believe in the propriety of throwing live women onto their husband's funeral pyre, or mutilating female genitals, since it is accepted as tradition and has formed part of the culture. This sick mentality of the past must end. This book explores the cultural aspects of injustices against women and the general exploitation by a male-oriented society.

So long as women are considered inferior human beings, crimes against women will not be considered as crimes against humanity. The problem cannot be solved simply by women achieving economic freedom and education, but can only be solved by exposing, and then changing, cultural traditions, customs and religious practices that harm humanity by debasing women. When men are tortured, it is considered a crime. When women are tortured, it is dismissed as a custom, a part of the tradition. Millions of people literally believe in the propriety of throwing live women onto their husband's funeral pyre, or mutilating female genitals, since it is accepted as tradition and has formed part of the culture. This sick mentality of the past must end. This book explores the cultural aspects of injustices against women and the general exploitation by a male-oriented society.