Spanish Civil War

Djoeke Veeninga, later known for her various interviews, interviewed three well-known intellectuals in the context of the Spanish Civil War in 1979. Two of these men fought on the side of the Republicans and all of them were important public intellectuals after the Civil War. These interviews thus deepen our knowledge not only of the Spanish Civil War but also of the intellectual climate of the twentieth century.

They include the following three individuals:

• The communist fighter Arie van Poelgeest (1913-2000), one of the few who didn’t lose their Dutch citizenship upon returning from the Spanish Civil War. Van Poelgeest helped capture the Karl Marx barracks, where George Orwell trained. In a later battle, Van Poelgeest was wounded and met Ernest Hemingway in the hospital. Then, in 1938, he arrived in the Netherlands.
• The Spanish man of letters Francisco Carrasquer (1915-2012), who since 1953 lived in the Netherlands. He was part of the Durruti colony during the Spanish Civil War. His brothers were also part of the anarchist movement within the Spanish Civil War. In 1949, Carrasquer went into exile, first in France and then in the Netherlands. As a university lecturer, he occupied a central place in intellectual life.
• The anarchist Anton Constandse (1899-1985), a journalist, author and publicist. He saw the Spanish Civil War as the last opportunity in history for an anarchist revolution. As an intellectual, he possessed extensive knowledge of Spanish literature and anarchism. In the last years of his life, he could be heard weekly on various radio broadcasts in the Netherlands.