WHO IS THE LAST ONE?
The last shall be first. A saying of Jesus; in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus declares that in the world to come, “The last shall be first and the first last.”
by Brian Bamford
A MONTH ago I was Bavaria with some women discussing the English art of queueing and I introduced the Spanish solution to the problem by saying that the Spaniards avoid queueing in an orderly way by standing in a crowd and when someone new turns up they simply ask: 'Quien es el ultimo?' To which the Germans said: 'No German would ever admit to being the last one!'
I was put in mind of this discussion when I recently had occasion to point out to a lady councillor from Crewe involved with the International Brigade Memorial Trust that the International Brigades had left Spain on the 28th, October 1938 not 1939 as she had proposed on an inscription to commemorate two local volunteers. Perhaps with justification she quickly argued: 'I would suggest that there were those who remained fighting alongside
their Spanish comrades right up to the end after the IB had marched out
of Barcelona.'
On their official departure the in October 1939 the International Brigaders had left behind 9,934 dead, 7,686 missing and had suffered 37,541 wounded. But more than that it was later discovered by the international commission of the League of Nations overseeing the withdrawal of foreign volunteers, were to find about 400 International Brigaders in prisons in and around Barcelona, including Montjuich and the 'Carlos Marx' prison'. Colonel Ribbing. the Swedish member of the international commission reported: 'As regards the international volunteers, they had sometimes been convicted for pure trifles, sometimes for definite and serious undisciplined behaviour. Many stated they were accused of espionage and sabotage; most of them protested their complete innocence.'
To any decent person it must have seemed quite shocking that even though the Negrin republican government had agreed to the repatriation of the International Brigade prisoners, the international commission was to find some 400 had been left behind as late as January 1939 just as the nationalist troops were advancing on Barcelona.
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Prime Minister Negrin in asserting his authority after the slaughter on the Ebro Front had called a council of ministers on the 5th, August 1938 at which he called for the confirmation of 58 death sentences. Two of his ministers resigned. He then went to tell the president of Catalonia, Luis Companys, that intended to resign & suggesting Companys should replace him. But Companys urged him the continue to lead the government of the Republic. Companys later told the Spanish President Manuel Azaña Díaz that Negrin, had claimed he was exhausted owing to his voracious appetites in women and food; needing to keep his hands free for his desires: every ten days a new woman.
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