operationbarbarossa: German members of the International Brigades; Madrid, Spain - November 1936 Pho

operationbarbarossa:

German members of the International Brigades; Madrid, Spain - November 1936

Photo by Robert Capa

Many German participants in the International Brigades were those who wanted to flee Hitler’s fascist regime. The majority of those participating had communist or socialist backgrounds and were of the working class. In fact, some men who left Nazi Germany to fight among the Republican forces against the Nationalists were World War I veterans who had experience fighting in paramilitary organizations during the years of the Weimar Republic.