24-588: Headington Hill Hall stands on Headington Hill in the east of Oxford , England . It was built in 1824 for the Morrell family, who remained in residence for 114 years. It became the home to Pergamon Press and to media tycoon Robert Maxwell . It currently houses Oxford Brookes School of Law . The hall was built in 1824 for the Morrell family , local brewers, and was extended between 1856 and 1858 by James Morrell Jr. (1810–1863) who built an Italianate mansion designed by
48-650: A journalist who fought alongside Esmond Romilly at Cerro de los Ángeles and who later "resigned" from the Thälmann Battalion , describes in his memoirs how he was detained and interrogated by Anarchist border guards before eventually being allowed into the country. A group of 500 volunteers (mainly French, with a few exiled Poles and Germans) arrived in Albacete on 14 October 1936. They were met by international volunteers who had already been fighting in Spain: Germans from
72-515: A military hospital during World War II . After the war, it became a rehabilitation centre, run by the Red Cross and the Order of St John . In 1953, James Morrell III sold Headington Hill Hall to Oxford City Council . It continued to be used as a rehabilitation centre until 1958. Subsequently, the publisher Robert Maxwell (1923–1991), founder of Pergamon Press , took a lease of the building rented from
96-483: A problem. Also, many Italians, Germans, and people from other countries joined the movement, with the idea that combat in Spain was the first step to restore democracy or advance a revolutionary cause in their own country. There were also many unemployed workers (especially from France), and adventurers. Finally, some 500 communists who had been exiled to Russia were sent to Spain (among them, experienced military leaders from
120-631: A security measure, non-communist volunteers would first be interviewed by an NKVD agent. By the end of September, the British, Italian and French Communist Parties had decided to set up a column. Luigi Longo , ex-leader of the Italian Communist Youth, was charged to make the necessary arrangements with the Spanish government. The Soviet Ministry of Defense also helped, since they had an experience of dealing with corps of international volunteers during
144-552: Is a hill in the east of Oxford , England , in the suburb of Headington . The Headington Road goes up the hill leading out of the city. There are good views of the spires of Oxford from the hill, especially from the top of South Park . Between 1644 and 1646, Headington Hill was used by the Parliamentarian forces while besieging Oxford during the First English Civil War . Headington Hill Hall , built in 1824 for
168-594: Is located where Headington Road meets During the Spanish Civil War , 29 British people with connections to Oxfordshire joined the International Brigades , with a further 2 who joined POUM . Most of the volunteers were communist activists, and many had links to Britain's Jewish communities. Oxford was a hub for anti-fascist activism, homes within the county housed hundreds of Basque refugee children and various physical fights between anti-fascist activists and
192-716: The Comintern and represented the Soviet Union 's commitment to assisting the Spanish Republic (with arms, logistics, military advisers and the NKVD ), just as Portugal , Fascist Italy , and Nazi Germany were assisting the opposing Nationalist insurgency . The largest number of volunteers came from France (where the French Communist Party had many members) and communist exiles from Italy and Germany. Many Jews were part of
216-627: The Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War . The International Brigades existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, there were between 40,000 and 59,000 Brigaders, including some 10,000 who died in combat. Beyond the Spanish Civil War , "International Brigades" is also sometimes used interchangeably with
240-770: The Durruti Column , the IWA , and the CNT . Using foreign communist parties to recruit volunteers for Spain was first proposed in August 1936 by British writer and military theorist Tom Wintringham who had already travelled to Spain, but the idea was not formally raised with the Comintern in the Soviet Union until September 1936—apparently at the suggestion of Maurice Thorez —by Willi Münzenberg , chief of Comintern propaganda for Western Europe. As
264-478: The Morrell family (local brewers), stands on the hill, and is now the home of Oxford Brookes University's School of Law. Headington Hill is the home of the Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial which is dedicated to local residents who travelled to Spain to join the International Brigades to fight against fascist forces backed by Hitler and Mussolini during the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 . The memorial
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#1732852384562288-760: The Russian Civil War . The idea was initially opposed by Largo Caballero , but after the first setbacks of the war, he changed his mind and finally agreed to the operation on 22 October. However, the Soviet Union did not withdraw from the Non-Intervention Committee , probably to avoid diplomatic conflict with France and the United Kingdom. The main recruitment center was in Paris, under the supervision of Soviet colonel Karol "Walter" Świerczewski . On 17 October 1936, an open letter by Joseph Stalin to José Díaz
312-574: The Thälmann Battalion , Italians from the Centuria Gastone Sozzi and French grouped together with Belgians under the Commune de Paris Battalion. Among them was the poet John Cornford , who had travelled down through France and Spain with a group of fellow intellectuals and artists including Wintringham, John Sommerfield , Bernard Knox , Ralph Bates and Jan Kurzke, all of whom left detailed memoirs of their battle experiences. On 30 May 1937,
336-730: The Council for 32 years as a residence and offices. He described it as the "best council house in the country." Maxwell commissioned a stained-glass window depicting Samson at the Gates of Gaza by Israeli sculptor Nehemia Azaz for the imperial staircase. Since 1992, the Council has leased the property to Oxford Brookes University . It houses the Oxford Brookes University School of Law . 51°45′18″N 1°13′52″W / 51.75500°N 1.23111°W / 51.75500; -1.23111 Headington Hill Headington Hill
360-478: The First World War like "Kléber" Stern , "Gomez" Zaisser , "Lukacs" Zalka and "Gal" Galicz , who would prove invaluable in combat). The operation was met with enthusiasm by communists, but by anarchists with skepticism, at best. At first, the anarchists, who controlled the borders with France, were told to refuse communist volunteers, but reluctantly allowed their passage after protests. Keith Scott Watson,
384-513: The Hall. Oscar Wilde , gaudily dressed as Prince Rupert , attended an all-night fancy dress May Day Ball given by Emily and Herbert Morrell at the Hall for around 300 guests on 1 May 1878. Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938), who owned the Hall for a period, was particularly associated with the Bloomsbury Group as a hostess. From 1939, the property was requisitioned by the government for use as
408-1156: The Oxford University Fascist Association. The memorial was the focus of minor controversy when all plans to have an anti-fascist memorial in the city center were rejected by Oxford city council, until the current site was agreed upon. This Oxfordshire location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . International Brigades Central Europe Germany Italy Spain ( Spanish Civil War ) Albania Austria Baltic states Belgium Bulgaria Burma Czechia Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Japan Jewish Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Slovakia Spain Soviet Union Yugoslavia Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States The International Brigades ( Spanish : Brigadas Internacionales ) were soldiers recruited and organized by
432-498: The Spanish liner Ciudad de Barcelona , carrying 200–250 volunteers from Marseille to Spain, was torpedoed by a Nationalist submarine off the coast of Malgrat de Mar . The ship sank and up to 65 volunteers are estimated to have drowned. Albacete soon became the International Brigades headquarters and its main depot. It was run by a troika of Comintern heavyweights: André Marty was commander; Luigi Longo ( Gallo )
456-403: The architect John Thomas . James Morrell and his wife Alicia died in 1863 and 1864, leaving their possessions including the hall and the brewery on trust for their 10-year-old daughter Emily Morrell . The three trustees tried to deal with Emily's crush on a distant cousin by sending her away to an aunt and forbidding any communication between the pair. Emily married her cousin and made her home at
480-619: The brigades, being particularly numerous within the volunteers coming from the United States , Poland , France , England and Argentina . Republican volunteers who were opposed to Stalinism did not join the Brigades but instead enlisted in the separate Popular Front , the POUM (formed from Trotskyist , Bukharinist , and other anti-Stalinist groups, which did not separate Spaniards and foreign volunteers), or anarcho-syndicalist groups such as
504-531: The last year of its existence, the International Brigades were integrated into the Spanish Republican Army as part of the Spanish Foreign Legion . The organisation was dissolved on 23 September 1938 by Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrín in a vain attempt to get more support from the liberal democracies on the Non-Intervention Committee . The International Brigades were strongly supported by
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#1732852384562528-523: The term foreign legion in reference to military units comprising foreigners who volunteer to fight in the military of another state, often in times of war. The headquarters of the brigade was located at the Gran Hotel, Albacete , Castilla-La Mancha . They participated in the battles of Madrid , Jarama , Guadalajara , Brunete , Belchite , Teruel , Aragon and the Ebro . Most of these ended in defeat. For
552-571: Was arranged for volunteers, for instance, a Yugoslav, Josip Broz, who would become famous as Marshal Tito , was in Paris to provide assistance, money, and passports for volunteers from Eastern Europe (including numerous Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War ). Volunteers were sent by train or ship from France to Spain, and sent to the base at Albacete . Many of them also went by themselves to Spain. The volunteers were under no contract, nor defined engagement period, which would later prove
576-465: Was published in Mundo Obrero , arguing that victory for the Spanish second republic was a matter not only for Spaniards but also for the whole of "progressive humanity"; in short order, communist activists joined with moderate socialist and liberal groups to form anti-fascist "popular front" militias in several countries, most of them under the control of or influenced by the Comintern . Entry to Spain
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