Commemorating the Legacy of the International Brigades in Czech Lands

The commemoration of the legacy of the Czechoslovak volunteers in Spain has been very inconsistent. Although theoretically it was one of the prime examples of internationalism, in practice, in the environment of the communist regime's total monopoly on all public space, the selection of media topics depended on current propaganda needs. Periods when the topic of Czechoslovak members of the International Brigades was emphasized alternated with periods when their legacy was neglected.

The first "decline" occurred with the wave of Stalinist trials in the early 1950s, directed against people who had ties to the "West" and were therefore suspected of possible espionage. Political changes after Stalin's death led to the rehabilitation of those affected, including veterans of the IBs. Shortly thereafter, the twentieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1956 was the first high point of commemoration. In consequence, the recently suspected volunteers gradually returned to public and political positions. However, their tough personalities continued to be a problem for the ruling elite. Many of the well-known among them were unwilling to blindly follow numerous political changes, especially after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Thus, the legacy of the International Brigades was presented more in general terms, mentioning living individual veterans only cautiously.

The last big celebrations before the end of the Cold War took place on the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the conflict, in 1986. Among other things, the Military Museum in Prague organized an exhibition, focused primarily on general propaganda but also on the material side of the war, with significant exhibits of weaponry. It was a big, representative event.

Interest in the International Brigades declined rapidly after the fall of communism, as the phenomenon was perceived to be a part of previous communist propaganda. While the last surviving veterans were ceremoniously received by the king of Spain in 1996, their legacy was totally marginalized in their homeland.

The commemoration of the Czechoslovak International Brigadiers thus resembles a sine wave, with periods of interest regularly alternating with periods of indifference or condemnation. To this day, there is no monument in the Czech Republic dedicated to the Czechoslovak members of the IBs. Aside from political changes, the waves of interest also tend to arise only at the time of ten-year anniversaries, with rather discontinuous, spectacular appearances.

The anniversary in 2016 was no exception to this trend, but was particularly noteworthy, as the international conference, accompanied by a number of other activities, took place in the chambers of the Czech Senate and under its auspices, and included many distinguished guests. We can also see symbolic significance in the driving figure behind the conference, trade union leader and Member of the European Parliament Richard Falbr, himself the son of an IB veteran. The legacy has thus been taken over by subsequent generations.

ZM