United Librarians: The international network that helped Spanish Republicans

[cbabe]

https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-08-19/united-librarians-the-international-network-that-helped-spanish-republicans.html

United Librarians: The international network that helped Spanish Republicans

A handful of letters scattered in archives in Castellón, Paris, New York, and California reveal the existence of an intricate machinery that provided aid to intellectuals interned in French concentration camps

ANA MARÍA DÍAZ MARCOS
AUG 19, 2025 - 07:29 EDT

A handful of letters scattered in archives in Castellón, Paris, New York, and California reveal the existence of a vast and intricate international network of anti-fascist librarians who, during the Spanish postwar period, collaborated from different parts of the world, providing aid to Republican intellectuals interned in French concentration camps. A letter from the Aragonese librarian Juan Vicéns to his American colleague Harriet Eddy in 1936 reveals their passion for their profession: “We are going to win this war […] The fascists are destroying libraries everywhere. The people are building one in every new place they occupy.”

The Republican refugees survived in these camps without renouncing their culture: they taught classes, organized conferences, and published handmade newsletters. Their “culture hut” operated at full capacity in the middle of the sand, and documents — almost inaccessible until their digitization last year — shed light on their daily life. One of these texts comes from the Saint Cyprien camp and opens with a resounding justification: “Written amidst sand and wind, rain and cold, hunger and filth, without pretensions of any kind, it is intended as nothing more than a documentary contribution to the memory of this episode in our life as exiles.” Vicéns told Eddy that upon crossing the border, Spaniards had to show they had two thousand francs to avoid immediate arrest. He had avoided internment by taking refuge in the car of an English journalist friend of his, who rushed him out.

The ramifications of this network of political struggle and humanitarian support had transatlantic reach. A group of archivists based in France, Mexico, the United States, and Venezuela set in motion an efficient mechanism to assist these refugees, who were living outdoors, crowded into the sand “like cattle.” Two letters inserted into the testimony “Aspects of Life in a Concentration Camp” reflect this collaboration. One of them, written in English by librarian Annita Ker from the National Library of Caracas and addressed to the Library of Congress in Washington, reported that Vicéns wanted to sell a unique collection of bulletins taken from the concentration camps. The letter emphasized the value of this collection, which “due to its human, artistic, and documentary interest, constitutes an extraordinary bibliographic rarity.” The lot was for sale for 15,000 francs, which would be used for humanitarian aid while ensuring its preservation in an archive. Another later letter addressed to the philosopher Georges Bataille — who worked as an archivist in Paris — refers to conversations about selling part of the lot to the American library and donating some documents to the National Library of France.

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[NJCher]

1. paywall

Bummer

[cbabe]

2. Just checked and link opened right up. A du tip

helped me when first using the site:

Tap configuration box

Tap decline all

Hope this helps.

[NJCher]

4. it worked!

thanks for that.

[cbabe]

6. Yeehaw. Onwards!

[NJCher]

3. audiobook I'm listening to today. Book & Dagger

snip

The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war

At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today’s CIA, was quickly formed—and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work—and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts.



In Book and Dagger, Elyse Graham draws on personal histories, letters, and declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned spies. Among them are Joseph Curtiss, a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kent, a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibre, an archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher education when they returned after the war.

Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched, Book and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story about a group of academics who helped beat the Nazis—a tale that reveals the indelible power of the humanities to change the world.

Snip

[NJCher]

5. I sent that to all my friends

and colleagues in academia.

The last paragraph is the kicker, isn't it? It so happens I had a friend who the FBI harrassed in the McCarthy years. He was very young but held an important news job and the FBI kept coming around, messing with his chances for promotion. He consequently went into business for himself and made millions. Best Commie revenge ever; beat 'em at their own game.

People still talk about Adele Martin in Chelsea.

And can you imagine their hysteria over Robin Hood? Just like fascists of today.