Danielle Dimmler
HONS 2011J
Final Essay
Professor Hernández-Ojeda
James Neugass
Personal Statement
To most (including me), the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was simply a group of nearly 3,000 men and women who traveled to Spain to fight the war against Fascism from 1936-1939. It was not until I randomly came across James Neugass – a volunteer who lived a little over one mile from where I currently reside while he lived in New York City – did this assignment become real. After digging through documents at the Tamiment Library, this connection I felt with Neugass grew exponentially. His slight humor towards his time in Spain made researching even more enjoyable. I would occasionally laugh at his descriptions of the volunteers he served with and the experiences that were described in his novel. In discovering more about who James Neugass was and his personal experience while overseas, he became more than just a name on a database with thousands of other individuals. He became a poet, novelist, ambulance driver, a father and most importantly, a volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigades.
Introduction
The Communist International sent out a call for international volunteers to defend democracy in Spain after the election of the Popular Front Government in February of 1936. Initially, only 36 volunteers sailed to Spain from New York City on December 26, 1936. Numbers quickly rose to 450 volunteers in 1937 and eventually, the number of volunteers rose close to 3,000. Volunteers were assigned to one of two battalions – either the Lincoln or the Washington battalions – both of which were part of the Fifteenth International Brigade. The Fifteenth International Brigade consisted of over 35,000 foreign volunteers from 53 countries. One of the nearly 3,000 international volunteers was Isadore James Newman Neugass.
Who was James Neugass?
Born on January, 1905 into a privileged New Orleans family, Neugass was a poet of the Lost Generation crowd who was extremely well educated in a multitude of academic fields ranging from mining to fine arts. At the age of 17 years old – when most people are trying to figure out what is next – Neugass began his career as a writer. He started dabbling in the realm of poetry and rather quickly packed his bags and moved to New York City. Still unsure where these pipe dreams would lead him, Neugass took advantage of traveling and worked odd jobs to pass time. It was not until late in 1932 when James Neugass heard about the Spanish Civil War and felt an obligation to do his part. James Neugass’ life was never the same again.
The Trip Overseas
On November 15, 1937, Neugass arrived in Spain and joined 2,800 other young Americans who collectively became known as the “Abraham Lincoln Brigade.” What made this group unique was that these individuals came from various social, religious, and ethnic groups. The group consisted of artists, journalists, intellectuals and industrial workers who shared a common desire to combat European fascism. Also, white soldiers served under African-American officers for the first time. Despite these differences, these volunteers adapted the principles that the anti-fascist racial vision encompassed.
There was more to these volunteers’ fight than killing others. In “Journal of an American Ambulance Driver in Spain,” a typescript by James Neugass from the Lincoln Brigade Archives, Neugass writes “we killed naturally and with constant gnawing desire to kill more and more, but we hated death and war and we could never manage to think of ourselves precisely as soldiers.” Most volunteers never participated in a war before, let alone held a gun. Although nearly impossible, they wished to find a way around killing others while still fighting for what they believed in.
Most would think that the Spanish Civil War was something that only Spanish citizens should get involved with. However, Neugass put it beautifully in “Journal” when he writes:
“This war is the international struggle of the poor peasant, the small and liberal business men, the poor priests the unemployed, and the industrial workers against the international epaulets, mistress, and gold fountain pens who lament with such demonstrations of quiet patience about the blood necessary to be spilled for the ‘renovating’ of Spain against the lawful and orderly poverty of its ‘golden’ age” (Neugass 73-74).
The Spanish Civil War was not just a Spanish issue – it encompassed many underlying concerns that affected countries around the world. However, if it were not for the war, these issues may have never been addressed.
The Ambulance Driver
Neugass spent 6 months on the front lines of the Spanish Civil War. He served with the Republican Medical Services, section 29 of the International Brigade in Villa Paz, and as a front line ambulance driver from 1936-1937. While serving as ambulance driver, he drove for the new mobile hospital which set up in Spain alongside the notable American surgeon Major Edward Barsky. Dr. Barsky established the American Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy (AMB) and led a group of American medical volunteers during the Spanish Civil War. In a letter from Dr. Barsky in Barcelona to New York in April 1938, he praised Neugass as his driver and described him as “loyal, willing, and a hard worker” (ALBA).
According to Neugass, he was considered very capable as an ambulance driver among his peers because he drove the fastest and most maneuverable car in the unit. When speaking of his job description in “Journal”, he says “All I know is to drive, to take care of my car and to speak Spanish and to take orders.” I believe this quote is the opposite of his life both prior to Spain because he was always exploring his options and engaging in a new job or field of study. However, in Spain he had one job. He made sure to perform this one job to the best of his abilities and attribute all of his effort previously spent on driving his ambulance.
Easy days were not frequent for those in combat or volunteering elsewhere and while driving around Spain, Neugass recalled much of the poverty and despair he witnessed in “Journal.”. He and others saw firsthand the bloodshed and pain the war caused. In an attempt to make light of the situation, Neugass made use of his sense humor when describing wartime. He said, “Maybe I will stay up at the front just long enough to learn how to imitate the sounds of different kinds of guns going off and shells flying through the air to impress girls at studio parties back in the States.”
In “Part 1: Base Hospital” of “Journal,” Neugass also speaks comically of his comrades who worked in the surgical unit. He says “I do not believe either one of them has in his lifetime heard a more lethal noise than the backfiring of car, but neither have I.” Marty and Bernie (no last names were provided) were trained mechanics prior to the war who came to Spain through the international underground railway. Marty and Bernie were both transferred from the infantry to the front line surgical unit because their technological skills would be put to better use. Despite not fighting directly in the war, James, Marty, and Bernie were still hopeful for excitement to occur, more on some days than others. Neugass writes, “We are all anxious to be able to write here that someone has taken a shot at us.” This excitement came more frequently for Neugass and other colleagues (specifically ambulance drivers) because they were often targets of fascist fire while they were driving through towns.
Between late 1937 and early 1938, Neugass was present at the battles of Teruel, Segura de los Banos, Belchite, and the Elbro. Teruel, the Spanish Civil War’s bloodiest battle, occurred when the city was changing hands from the initial rule of Republicans to being re-taken by the Nationalists. Over 100,000 lives were lost during that battle alone. After his hard work and dedication to the fight, Neugass was advised to return home with a letter of special commendation.
The Proletariat Poet Post War
As a poet overseas, Neugass felt that his job was to document daily occurrences – his responsibility was to become the book-keeper of the international agony. After returning to the United States on April 14, 1938 aboard the Ile de France, Neugass – the so-called “Proletariat Poet” – continued his writing career and produced many literary works. Among them were handfuls of poems, one novel, and a memoir. While in Spain, Neugass drafted a large chunk of “War is Beautiful: an American Ambulance Driver in the Spanish Civil War” by hand. A typed copy of the memoir appeared a half-century later in a used bookshop in Vermont. There is speculation that Neugass’ second wife, Myra Shavell typed up the original manuscript after his return to New York in 1938.
In “War is Beautiful”, multiple accounts of the fast paced life are combined using with Hemingway-like style while describing the turmoil and tribulations of everyday life during the Spanish Civil War – both on and off the battlefield. His style of writing in “War is Beautiful” might be attributed to his earlier encounter with Ernest Hemingway while he was in Spain. Neugass’ vision with “War is Beautiful” was a sort of hopeful longing for a new future. Despite that, Neugass notes his apprehension towards religion while overseas during the Spanish Civil War. He wondered how God could have seen what is occurring in Spain and not interfere to aid those who are suffering. He states that “either there is no God or His representatives on earth don’t know what the hell religion is about.” Completely understandable is Neugass, who grew up with a Jewish upbringing, to question his surroundings. However, Neugass does not directly blame God. Instead, he blamed the hideous things he has seen on the Spanish men fighting during the Spanish Civil War.
Neugass’ words in “War is Beautiful” allow for readers to vividly experience the lives of those affected by the war first hand. Originally coined by Italian poet and Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the term “war is beautiful” might seem confusing at first. However, it truly does make sense: war is seen as beautiful because it would produce new literature and art.
Neugass’ Lasting Legacy
On September 7, 1949, Neugass died of a heart attack in Village, New York City. After Neugass’ death, his family moved to Los Angeles, California as a means to erase and essentially escape the Spanish Civil War volunteer’s past history. His wife’s memories of Neugass began to fade, however she constantly stressed to her children that he was a good father who loved them very much. Part of the mother’s reason for fleeing was the ridicule received from other family members. For example, in Jim Neugass’ article “Following in my father’s footsteps: A journey into the Spanish Civil War,” he recalls a conversation with his aunt in which she said that his father was “an embarrassment to the family because he was a member of the American Communist Party and a union organizer who had gone off to the Civil War in Spain in 1937.”
After his father’s death, Jim Neugass decided to follow in his father’s footsteps in order to discover firsthand the places his father wrote about in “War is Beautiful.” Jim never knew his father because he was only 18 months old and his brother Paul was 7 years old when their father died. Jim Neugass created a documentary with the footage acquired on his trip to Spain, named “War is Beautiful Documentary” dedicated to the Spanish adventures described in “War is Beautiful.” In a way, his adventure was a means to connect himself with the father he never truly got to know. His documentary does many things, but most importantly it gives a glimpse into the history of one Abraham Lincoln Brigade volunteer who decided to risk his life to his beliefs.
The Motivation Behind it All
Throughout his chronicle in “War is Beautiful”, Neugass never gives an exact reason to why he decided to travel to Spain and participated in the Spanish Civil War. However, there are many general motives – both personal and political – which I later discovered. Firstly, Neugass believed that the rise of fascism demanded attention, especially during the late 1930s. Another politically driven motive – which was not uncommon during the time – was that Neugass was closely connected to the Communist Party for most of the 1920s and 1930s. More personally, Neugass’ had a general interest in the everyday occurrences in Spain. He speaks of spending too much money buying newspapers every day in order to read about Spain and therefore, actually traveling to Spain would have been easier. When asked about his motives for joining the Abraham Lincoln Brigades in a November 1938 interview for the “Daily Worker” newspaper, Neugass answered humorously saying that he “… went there to get some sleep… New York City is such a noisy place” (Tilkin). However, through reading through the pages of his typescript of “Journal” and other documents at the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, I discovered a more serious side to Neugass.
In his short chronicle, “Transubstantiation” which was published in “Salud! Poems, Stories and Sketches of Spain by American Writers,” Neugass uses his experience in the medical front during the Spanish Civil War to further solidify his motivation for joining the Abraham Lincoln Brigades. On one occasion, the surgeon on call took a syringe to the forearm vein of a dead cavalrymen. Initially confused, Neugass questioned what the doctor was doing. It was not until the surgeon explained that this cavalryman would serve as a blood donor to those who needed blood transfusions because of war injuries did his motivation for venturing overseas become clear. He said “Now I understand why we must win. Men die but the blood fights on in other veins and their purpose fills other hearts.”
Conclusion
James Neugass could have been like many other Americans who turned their heads to the political and societal situations that were occurring in Spain in the late 1930s. He was quite the opposite, leaving his comfortable life in the United States and traveling overseas to fight what seemed like a losing battle. Regardless of the war’s outcome and despite all Neugass experienced while in Spain, it was evident that Neugass would not have traded it for the world because it is not every day that an individual is able to fight for what they believe in. In his reflections of the war after returning home, he writes: “I am very lucky. My lungs occasionally throw blood into my throat, I have a hernia, the weakness of my legs is probably due to small pieces of metal that remain in or near my spinal column, and I carry various shrapnel cars on my left leg and my scalp. I am very lucky” (ALBA).
Honestly, I think I am the lucky one. I had the privilege of discovering such an amazing and inspirational volunteer who wanted nothing more than to make a difference in the world, even if that meant driving an ambulance.
Sources
Anita Tilkin, “Poet James Neugass,” Daily Worker, November 15, 1938, 7.
Calmer, Alan. Salud! Poems, Stories and Sketches of Spain by American Writers. New York: International, 1938. Print.
Griffin, Andrew W. “”War Is Beautiful” by James Neugass.” Red Dirt Report. N.p., 09 Nov. 2015. Web.
James Neugass Typescript: “Journal of an American Ambulance Driver in Spain”, Undated; ALBA.262; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Neugass, Jim. “Following in My Father’s Footsteps: A Journey into the Spanish Civil War.” The Volunteer. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web.
United States: Neugass, James (Ambulance Driver), Undated, 1938, 1968; Fredericka Martin Papers; ALBA.001; Box 10, Folder 18; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Wald, Alan. “The Journey of James Neugass.” Solidarity: A Socialist, Feminist, Anti-racist Organization. Web.
War is Beautiful Documentary. Dir. Aelwen Wetherby. Perf. Jim Neugass and Alan Warren. N.p., Dec. 2014. Web.
