by lang=EN-GB> Theresa Hogue. Additional reporting by Mark Roulston

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"VIVA Rusia,"
the women shouted from their balconies as a group of mainly French and German
soldiers readied themselves to defend lang=EN-GB>Madrid. It was
October, 1936, and the rebelling Nationalist troops led by General Francisco
Franco were advancing on lang=EN-GB>Spain‘s capital.
Volunteers from around the globe had come to lang=EN-GB>Spain to
fight in the name of socialism and to battle against the spectre of fascism. La
Brigada Internacional they
became known as.

Civil war had been declared two months
before and cities around the country were falling to the rebels: a coalition of
Catholics, fascists, capitalists and rebelling factions of the army ultimately
led by General Francisco Franco.

President Francisco Largo Caballero had
moved parliament and the country’s capital to lang=EN-GB>Valencia
also in October 1936 in a bid to prolong the lang=EN-GB>Second lang=EN-GB>Spanish lang=EN-GB>Republic. The
global volunteers along with their Spanish counterparts successfully defended lang=EN-GB>Madrid as the west
of the city came under heavy attack.

Around the country, the International Brigade
fought to stop the advance of Franco’s troops.

The Abraham Lincoln Battalion, consisting
of US volunteers, was formed the following year in 1937. It saw its first
action on February 11 in the successful defence of lang=EN-GB>Madrid as the
Nationalist troops attacked from the class=SpellE>Jarama lang=EN-GB> Valley lang=EN-GB>, to the east of the capital.

The League
of Nations banned foreign involvement in
the war soon after and many of the surviving global volunteers returned home. Some
were shot as they headed for ports, airports, train stations and borders;
others taken prisoner. However, this prohibition on foreign involvement did not
stop German bombers flattening the city of class=SpellE>Guernica lang=EN-GB> in the Basque Country.

Soon, the Republicans’ grip on the country
weakened with internal factions arguing among themselves. Over the next two
years, places of tactical importance fell to the Nationalists: class=SpellE>Málaga, Segovia lang=EN-GB>, Aragon lang=EN-GB>, Teruel, lang=EN-GB>Tarragona, lang=EN-GB>Barcelona and
finally Madrid lang=EN-GB> on lang=EN-GB>March 28, 1939.

Four days later, Franco in his new role as
leader of Spain lang=EN-GB> declared the civil war to be over.

Below is an account of a civil war veteran,
returning to Spain lang=EN-GB> for the 70th anniversary of the International Brigade. The article
first appeared in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Carl Geiser, 95,
who fought for the Loyalists against General Francisco Franco’s Nationalist
Army in the Spanish civil war in the later half of the 1930s, reunited last
week with surviving members of the International Brigade – a group of 30,000
volunteers from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France and
Russia who came to defend the Second Spanish Republic. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

In the midst of the Spanish Civil War of
the mid to late 1930s, a group of international forces that were drawn to the
struggle poured into Spain lang=EN-GB> to aid the Loyalists who were battling against General Francisco
Franco’s Nationalist Army.

Many of the young people who came to fight
were enamoured with the Loyalists democratic and socialist visions, and were
determined to help defeat Franco and his fascist backers, including Nazi
Germany and Italy lang=EN-GB>.

Among them was a young man named Carl class=SpellE>Geiser, who joined the American Abraham Lincoln Battalion
of the International Brigades at the age of 26.

It has been 67 years since the Loyalists
were defeated by Franco in 1939, and he began a dictatorship that lasted until 1975.

Since the ensuing democratization of lang=EN-GB>Spain,
however, the surviving soldiers of the International Brigade have been
celebrated as national heroes by the Spanish. Geiser
and his fellow brigadistas have returned again and
again to reconnect with the foreign land that came to mean so much to them.

But over the years, fewer and fewer
survivors have returned for anniversary celebrations, and this week, class=SpellE>Geiser, 95, is one of the few frail men who has made what
is likely his final trip across the ocean to Spain.

"Being there is something that is
quite unique," Geiser said softly during an
interview a few days before his trip.

Now living in an old people’s home in the lang=EN-GB>US state
of Oregon lang=EN-GB>, Geiser gets around via a wheelchair. While
his mind is sharp and his memory clear, it is often a struggle for his words to
keep pace with his mind.

Geiser’s lang=EN-GB> daughter Linda, while worried about the toll the trip might take on
her father, knew the importance of the trip to him, and said past reunions have
been joyous occasions.

"There have been three other reunions
of international brigades, and all of them have been incredibly emotional
experiences," Linda said. "They are so admired by the Spanish people."

During the 60th reunion, all the
international soldiers were given honorary Spanish citizenship by the
government. This year’s 70th reunion was paid for in full by the Association of
Friends of the International Brigade, including hotel costs and meals.

The former soldiers are travelling around lang=EN-GB>Spain,
including Madrid lang=EN-GB> and Barcelona lang=EN-GB>, and meeting up with people they have not seen in years.

Geiser lang=EN-GB> is accompanied by family friend Ray Drapek,
who is helping Geiser get from place to place and
making sure he is well cared for.

Speaking about lang=EN-GB>Spain and
his experiences during the war is still an emotional process, even after 70
years. He was one of the brigadistas captured and
held in a Spanish concentration camp for a year and a half because of his
involvement with the Loyalists. He lived on garlic soup and not much else.

When he was finally released and came back
to the United States lang=EN-GB>, the situation was not much better. The country was still in the
midst of the Great Depression, and because of the ties between the Loyalist
movement and the Soviet Union lang=EN-GB>, many International Brigade participants were blacklisted. class=SpellE>Geiser himself has an FBI file a half inch thick.

"It was very rough for me," class=SpellE>Geiser said.

Geiser lang=EN-GB> had the opportunity to visit the lang=EN-GB>Soviet Union in its early days,
before his time in Spain lang=EN-GB>, and at the time, was fascinated by the socialist system, which
seemed to him to be serving the people well. This was before World War II and
the changes that followed.

"Everything looked rosy," he said.
"I thought, ‘Boy, this country is going to show the world.’"

Despite Geiser’s
eventual disappointment in communism, and the failure of the International
Brigades to oust Franco, hope and optimism never left Geiser.
It is why he has returned to lang=EN-GB>Spain,
despite health concerns and the emotional toll of going back.

His daughter said Geiser
has never wavered in his faith.

"His ideals never changed," she
said. "People should work to help others. That is the most rewarding thing
you can do. And he always believed in the power of democracy, of the ability of
ordinary people to make good decisions. That optimism has never left him."

Copyright 2006 Theresa Hogue Corvallis
Gazette-Times