Honoring the Mac-Paps in Azuara, Spain

By Daniel Czitrom

Eighty-five years ago a dozen volunteers, part of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion of the International Brigades, lost their lives while providing cover for their retreating comrades in the town of Azuara, in the Aragon region of Spain. In March 1938 they were part of what came to be known as the Great Retreats from the massive offensive launched by Fascist forces against Republican units in the Aragon. This particular group embodied the global makeup of the men and women who came to the aid of the Spanish Republic: 8 Finns, 3 Canadians, and one American.

On March 11, 2023, Azuara hosted a tribute to these long forgotten anti-Fascist fighters, placing a plaque with their names and in memory of all members of the International Brigades. A bouquet of flowers (red, yellow and blue) accompanied a banner with photos of the volunteers. The event attracted coverage from Finnish national television, support from the City Council of Azuara, and its mayor, Joaquin Alconchel, and an enthusiastic audience of about 50 local citizens.

After the dedication, Erik Salvador Artigas led a guided tour of the main scenes of the battle, including various caves below the hill facing the village. One was an ammo dump, but others were full of civilians hiding from the fighting. One old woman remembered as a child coming out after the battle and having to step over thirteen dead Mac-Paps to go back to her destroyed family house. The group then walked up the hill, with its spectacular view of the village, where the men met their fate. I was asked to write a tribute to Leo Gordon, the lone American and my father’s cousin, which was read aloud at the event. I had vaguely learned about his death while growing up. But it was only when I began digging into his life and his experiences in Spain, that I realized what a truly heroic death he and his Mac-Pap comrades had endured. Nearly a century later, Azuara remembers.

The History and Mystery of a Photograph

This photograph of Lincoln brigaders Bill Aalto, Alex Kunslich and Irv Goff, with a Spanish comrade, depicts something rare, possibly unique. Aalto, Goff and Kunslich were three of only a handful of Lincolns recruited to operate as part of the Republican guerrilla forces behind enemy lines during the war of 1936-39 in Spain. The photograph appeared in the memoirs of Lincoln vet Milt Felsen, The Anti Warrior, published in 1989 by the University of Iowa Press. Yet the photograph was not among the materials of Felsen’s donated to the ALBA archive after his death, or among any papers or documentation related to Goff, Aalto, or Kunslich. If anyone has any information about the photograph or if anyone is in contact with Milt Felsen’s family, please let us know (info@alba-valb.org). —Helen Graham