Naftali Botwin Company
The Naftali Botwin Company or 2nd Company of the Palafox Battalion of the 150th Brigade of the International Brigades was a military sub-unit established during the Spanish Civil War .
The second company in the Palafox battalion , named "Naftali Botwin", was a purely Jewish sub-unit. It was named after a young Jewish communist who was executed in Poland in 1925 after murdering a police spy. This company had a manpower of around 150 brigadists, with Jewish volunteers from Poland, France, Belgium, Palestine and Spain. The company's banner carried the Dąbrowski battalion's motto (“For your and our freedom”) in Yiddish, Polish and Spanish. The second company also had its own Yiddish anthem, the “March of the Botwin Soldiers”. During the Spanish Civil War, the Naftali Botwin Company was an ideal military unit for propaganda for the International Brigades, due to the very high proportion of Jews in communist parties .
history
As part of the establishment of the International Brigades, the Paris Communist Albert Nahumi suggested that a purely Jewish unit be set up. On December 12, 1937, the decision was made to set up a purely Jewish unit, the Naftali Botwin Company. On August 4, 1937, the Naftali Botwin Company was grouped as a sub-unit of the Palafox Battalion in the 150th Division of the International Brigades . The Naftali Botwin Company fought before the Franco Aragon offensive in Extremadura near Mérida . In this area the Republicans tried, after small initial successes, to split the national zone into two parts. After taking a ridge, the Naftali Botwin Company advanced across a plain, cutting the company off and wiping it out.
At the Battle of the Ebro on July 25, 1938, the Naftali Botwin Company fought on the Ebro near Ascó , Gandesa and Vertex Gaeta . Many brigadists of the Naftali Botwin Company of the Palafox Battalion were killed in these fighting and around 90 brigadists were taken prisoner. In contrast to the Spanish brigadists who were brought to prison camps, the brigadists of Jewish faith were liquidated.
→ see also Palafox battalion , Dąbrowski battalion and tabular chronology of the Dąbrowski battalion
literature
- Arno Lustiger : “Shalom Libertad!” Jews in the Spanish Civil War . Athenaeum, Frankfurt am Main 1989
- Gerben Zaagsma: Botwin Company. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 1: A-Cl. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-476-02501-2 , pp. 392-397.
Web links
- 300 Jews against Franco , YouTube, accessed November 10, 2014
Individual evidence
- ^ Martin Sugarman: Against Fascism - Jews who served in The International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War (PDF; 1.9 MB), Jewish Virtual Library
- ↑ Alicia Benmergui: Milim Cultura, Los Judios y la guerra civil (Spanish) ( Memento of the original from June 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Retrieved May 6, 2012
- ↑ Mitch Abidor: The Naftali Botwin Company (English) , Accessed 6 May 2012
- ↑ 300 Jews against Franco: [1] youtube, minute 32:30, accessed on July 27, 2012
