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“Kiwi Compañeros. New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War”
Mark Derby (ed.) 
(La Librería de Cazarabet, 18-08-2009)

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Tlfs.978 849970-686 110069

304 páginas

24 x 17 cm

 

Kiwi Compañeros is the first-ever account of New Zealand’s role in the Spanish civil war of 1936–39, a war that became a ruthless rehearsal for World War Two.

 

Volunteers from more than 50 countries arrived in Spain to take sides. This book records the actions of New Zealanders involved, including those who worked for the Spanish cause at home by raising funds, lobbying politicians, writing poems and spreading propaganda.

 

Here are a few of the extraordinary people whose stories are presented:

 

- A fighter pilot from Wellington who landed his plane with a shattered shoulder, then left for Hollywood to make movies with Errol Flynn

 

- A tough young wharfie from Napier who buried 80 of his fellow fighters in a single grave, and later became a union leader and thorn in the side of PM Rob Muldoon

 

- A Cromwell surgeon who operated as close as possible to the firing line, and was described as ‘the most important volunteer to come from the British Commonwealth’

 

- A no-nonsense nurse from Akaroa who worked in operating theatres where anaesthetic was a luxury, and married o­ne of her patients at the height of the war

 

- A Christchurch-born academic who risked his life as an intelligence agent in Spain, and was later termed the handsomest man at Oxford University

 

- An elegant young Englishwoman who fought with anarchist militia units and, under the guidance of Frank Sargeson, turned that experience into a writing career

 

- A Wellington film-maker, show-jumper and flamenco dancer who fought for Franco’s Fascists.

 

Kiwi Compañeros includes contributions from some of New Zealand’s leading writers and historians. It draws o­n personal letters, recently released military documents and previously unpublished photographs to tell an all-but-forgotten story.

 

 

Mark Derby is a writer and historian who has worked for Te Ara (the o­nline encyclopaedia of New Zealand), the Waitangi Tribunal and as South Pacific correspondent for Jornal Expresso, Portugal’s leading newspaper. He has also curated museum exhibitions, made historical documentaries and reviewed films for the Wellington community newspaper City Voice. He is chair of the Labour History Project and lives o­n Wellington’s south coast with his family.

 

 

The long-forgotten exploits of some of the extraordinary New Zealanders who took part in the Spanish Civil War are revealed for the first time in a book that will be published by Canterbury University Press in May.

 

Kiwi Compañeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War offers the first account of the role New Zealand and New Zealanders played in the war, which began as a military revolt against the Republican government of Spain in 1936 and ended with the government’s overthrow and the start of the 40-year dictatorship of General Francisco Franco in 1939. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the conflict.

 

Edited by writer and historian Mark Derby with a foreword by the Spanish Ambassador to New Zealand Marcos Gomez, Kiwi Compañeros not o­nly tells the personal stories of New Zealanders and post-war immigrants who took part in the action in Spain but also provides accounts of those who worked for the Spanish cause in New Zealand by raising funds, lobbying politicians and spreading propaganda.

 

Featuring contributions from some of New Zealand’s leading writers and historians, the book draws o­n personal letters, recently released military documents and previously unpublished photographs.

 

Mr Derby, who has worked for Te Ara, the o­nline encyclopaedia of New Zealand, the Waitangi Tribunal and as South Pacific correspondent for Portuguese newspaper Jornal Expresso, said the aim of the book is to preserve the long-forgotten stories of Kiwis who took part in what proved to be a brutal foreign war.

 

“It is a subject which has practically been overlooked and forgotten. There are no other books o­n New Zealand’s involvement in this conflict and virtually no mention of New Zealand combatants in any other books o­n the civil war,” he said.

 

Mr Derby stressed Kiwi Compañeros was not a military history.

 

“It is a book about a country’s response to a political situation overseas.”

 

While New Zealand did not officially become involved in the Spanish conflict, a number of New Zealanders volunteered their services as soldiers, doctors, and nurses, or covered the war as journalists. Some left New Zealand to take part in the war while others already based overseas headed to Spain.

 

Among the stories told are those of a Cromwell surgeon who operated as close as possible to the battlefield; a Christchurch-born academic who risked his life to work as an intelligence agent; a Wellington film-maker and show-jumper who fought for General Francisco Franco’s fascists; and a Wellington pilot who landed his plane with a shattered shoulder then headed to Hollywood to make movies with Errol Flynn.

 

“Generally speaking those who went to Spain were motivated by anti-fascist beliefs,” said Mr Derby.

 

“They saw the rise of fascism in Germany and Italy and believed it was a dangerous movement that would eventually lead to war. They saw the overthrow of Spain’s legitimately-elected government as a victory for fascism and wanted to stop it.”

 

The book is based o­n papers delivered during a 2006 seminar o­n the war organised by the Trade Union History Project (now the Labour History Project) and supplemented by further research.

 

 

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