Amerykanie w wojnie domowej w Hiszpanii (1936–1938)

The fate of Americans participating in the Spanish Civil War (2800 soldiers) was presented in the article basing on the method of case study. The Neutrality Act and official law banned departures for Spain, but the American volunteers got there illegally to join the Battallion Lincoln or Battalion Washington, which belonged to the XV International Brigade. It was usually named The Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The group of American volunteers was diversified because of different social status, level of education and national roots. There were commanders ideologically educated in Moscow (R.H. Merriman), Communist instructors (S. Nelson) as well as young people looking for adventures and susceptible to propaganda. There were teachers, artists, journalists (J.Ph. Lardner), writers (Ph.L. Detro) actors (A. Bessie), farmers, workers (D.M. Reiss) and unemployed. There were the White Men and Afroamericans (O. Law), men and women, American citizens of Slavic (M. Markovics) and Jewish origin (M. Wolff). Pilots (A. Baumler, F. Tinker, J. Allison) formed another group among the volunteers as well as doctors and nurses. In Spain, after inadequate training they were immediately sent to the front, where many people were shot (800 died), or wounded, or taken prisoners or deserted (Ph. Crane, B. Abramofsky). The ones who survived, were brought back home with minimal assistance of the F.D. Roosevelt administration. Their post-war lifes were also complex and dramatic beause of political circumstances (period of Maccathyism).