Haley Trunkett

HONS 2011

Hunter College-CUNY

Professor María Hernández-Ojeda

May Levine Hartzman

Personal Statement

I came across May Levine-Hartzman while searching online at the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. Before this course, I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War nor anyone that volunteered. I even visited Madrid for a summer and still did not know the impact that this war had and still has on modern day society. However I am very thankful for the fact that this course brought me to May Levine. Given that she was born in New York City and eventually moved to Los Angeles, I felt an instant connection but I could have never anticipated how inspirational her life experiences

would be to me.

Hartzman’s parents came to the United States in order to escape political unrest in Russia, but being immigrants meant to be stuck in the working class and facing the adversity that came with it. May worked hard to get to Nurse’s Training School at Lebanon Hospital in New York, but she was also aware about what was happening in Spain and something inside her sparked. Raised in a political atmosphere, she was compelled to travel to Spain and work as an Operating Room Nurse for the Spanish Republic, making a difference in the fight against Francisco Franco and his fascist regime. She had the courage to leave the United States at age twenty-three, work with the Republican Medical Services in both Benicassim and later Mataro; and even after Spain’s fight was over she travelled to Panama as a World War Two civilian working in the Canal Zone.

The way I see her, May Levine-Hartzman’s efforts with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade are nothing short of heroic. She was a passionate woman when it came to her political beliefs, and that is shown through all the archives that reveal information about her life. Thanks to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and the Tamiment Archives at NYU, as well as the narrative Peter Hartzman wrote about May and husband Jacob Hartzman, her efforts in Spain and Panama, as well as her memory, may live on.

May Levine, VALB/ALBA; in Spain

 

Abstract

Spain in the 1930’s was facing a time of political tension between the Nationalists and Republicans after the abdication of King Alfonso in 1931, and the election of a Popular Front government. The New Republic promised land reform, separation of church and state, new schools and increased rights for women. Unfortunately, this was enough to send Nationalist Leader Francisco Franco into a revolt against the Republic with the aid of Hitler and Mussolini. Following World War One, many Americans were isolationists and feared war. President Roosevelt signed a non- intervention treaty alongside 27 European nations, but this was not enough to stop the 40,000 international volunteers, including 3,200 Americans, who left their country to fight what was called “The Good Fight” in Spain against the Nationalist Army.

May Levine- Hartzman was one of the thousands of American civilians who risked their lives and fought against what they believed was not just a political issue, but a moral issue as well. Her work as an operating nurse with limited resources, even during times where she recalls missiles flying over her head, Levine-Hartzman saved the lives of many soldiers fighting for the Loyalist Army. During her time as a volunteer, she met her future husband Jacob Hartzman, who worked as an ambulance driver, while transporting veterans. After the war, she travelled to Panama to work as a WWII civilian, moved to Chicago to marry Jacob, brought their family to California and continued to remain active in progressive causes for the rest of her life. This essay will relive May Levine- Hartzman’s legacy, including her upbringing, motives for fighting and the work she accomplished during the Spanish Civil War, and her life after.

“Surgical Nurse May Levine (Hartzman) relates: …When I read about how badly they needed help in Spain, I volunteered. I felt I could be useful.”

May Levine was born August 19, 1914 in New York City as a first generation Russian American. Her parents, Max Levine and Fannie Zapakin, moved to the United States following the failed political revolution in Russia in 1905, hoping for a better life in the United States. Growing up in the working class was hard, as both of May’s parents faced unemployment after working as a tailor and a factory worker. They were forced to run their own businesses, such as candy stores and newsstands, and May grew up taking care of her younger brother Fred while her parents worked. As a child, May attended a Jewish school, which was politically active being sponsored by the International Workers order. Her solid political education, alongside her class consciousness and her politically outspoken parents, led May to be a very progressive woman in her beliefs. In a Nursing History Review that collected memories from women like Levine, she recalls, “I was raised in a family that was very progressive, politically… When my mother was a young woman in Russia, she used to stand guard at [Clandestine] political meetings…Neither I nor my family were members of the Communist Party, but we were sympathetic to the Left…” . May read the Daily Worker and knew she wanted to volunteer given her political stance that had developed throughout her life.

Following high school, Levine attended nurse’s training school at Lebanon Hospital in New York, where she gained experience in the medical field. Unfortunately, during the Depression there was a high rate of unemployment and horrible working conditions for Nurses in the United States. Levine knew what she wanted to do. She told her mother she was going to Spain and applied to the American Medical Bureaus (AMB). Within the Abraham Lincoln Brigade there were different units; one of them was the American Medical Bureaus to Save Spanish Democracy, a nonprofit humanitarian organization created by Doctor Edward K. Barksy. It was developed in order to provide nursing services to volunteers. Leaving the life she knew behind her, May Levine Hartzman left the United States to embark on a journey that would set a precedent for the work she would do for the rest of her life.

Many notable nurses, such as Salaria Kea, a well-known African-American volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, sailed as the first group of volunteers on January 16, 1937 aboard the Paris. Levine, however, travelled aboard the Normandie on May 29, 1937. Alongside her were nurses from New York and Philadelphia, as well as nurses and doctors from Chicago. Their group arrived in Le Havre, and took a train to Paris in order to receive instructions how to get to Spain. Unlike those that had to climb through mountains during nightfall, May and her group took a bus through the Spanish border and drove from the border to a city known as Benicassim. There, she would spend the year as an operating nurse until she was transferred to Mataró under the command of a Czech, German and an American.

For Levine, Benicassim held a significant amount of memories. Many of the villas that previously belonged to wealthy families had been transformed into hospital facilities, including the operating room that May worked in. In this facility, she was an assistant to neurosurgeon Abraham Edelson. She also worked alongside doctor Barey Malbin from Chicago, two nurses who were also from Chicago, and a nurse’s aide who was a native New Yorker and assisted the x-ray technician. While May never worked in the front lines, many people who worked in the front lines were often transferred to the hospital later on. According to a letter written by May that I read in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, May remembered some days to be quiet and others to be so loud it felt that like a bomb could strike at any moment. Compared to other cities where people were stationed, Benicassim was overall a relatively safe town. It was home to doctors from America, Germany, France and the Czech Republic. Tucked away in Costa del Azahar, Benicassim lies on the eastern side of Spain and is currently home to about 18,000 people. May not only developed meaningful relationships with her coworkers, but friendly locals that helped her adapt to her temporary home. Most volunteers looked to them in order to learn Spanish, not just to communicate with them better but also to treat them properly.

While in Benicasim, May was visited by many notable artists and politicians from America. This included: Congressmen Bernand and O’Connell, Singer Paul Robeson, Filmmaker Herb Klien and Filmmaker Abe Osheroff. Both filmmakers made movies about the war in Spain. Osheroff created the documentary Dreams and Nightmares (1974), while Klein created Heart of Spain (1937), which May’s father had seen six times in New York but May never saw once.

According to the Abraham Lincoln Brigades, the hospitals in Spain could be referred to a “league of nations” due to the large diversity of volunteers from different countries and backgrounds.  Since May knew English and Spanish, and a doctor she worked with spoke French and Polish, they were both able to speak Yiddish. Despite the fact their hospital had an active Neurosurgeon, the hospital performed mostly general surgeries. Unfortunately, things were difficult to lack of supplies and resources. Properly sterilized medical tools were a rare commodity which often left people vulnerable to viral infections and bacterial diseases when using reused needles and such. May had recollections of needing to be innovative and creative when it came to medical supplies. “May remembered that she had one burn patient for whom they needed to keep the blankets off his leg. They had no cradles to hold up the covers, so May took a cradle from the autoclave they used to sterilize the instruments and put it upside down over his leg” . Food was provided, but mostly limited to garbanzos, lentils, and stale burros (this translates to Donkey, but is actually meant to mean burrito because it looks like a pack that a burro may carry). May’s family and former nurses she worked with in the Bronx sent her parcels with peanut butter, instant coffee, and chocolate strudel preserved in cognac which she shared with one of her patients.

One of the most life changing moments for May Levine occurred during her time in the Spanish Civil War, and this came in the form of meeting her future husband Jacob Hartzman. Whilst on a trip to Murica, a large city in the southeastern region of Spain, May remembers having to transport fourteen patients who were in dangerous conditions due to their wounds. A large Mack truck was used as an alternative for an ambulance, and was equipped with four stretchers and several benches. The whole journey lasted fourteen hours and proved to be very difficult with only minor pain killing pills and cognac to alleviate the pain of their patients. “One of the patients was an American with a very bad wound in his back. She did not think that he would survive, but several years later he greeted her warmly at a reunion of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in New York” . Alongside May and her patients were two ambulance drivers, Tedd Gibbs and Jacob Hartzman. Jacob Hartzman was originally stationed in Albacete as a transport, but was briefly transferred to Murica on May 1st, then to Benicassim in September, and finally worked the Battalions in the 45th division where he was isolated from any english-speaking groups. Neither May nor Jacob have documented letters with one another following their separation, solely just the memories of their own families. I think there is something truly beautiful in the fact that May and Jacob were able to find love amidst a terrible and deadly war. Neither May nor Jacob have been widely regarded as highly notable volunteers. Jacob recalled only carrying out assignments and did not consider himself heroic. However, they were able to find each other. Jacob and May were separated by their work until May moved to Chicago in 1946 and married Jacob on July 20th. They would never divorce nor remarry.

Towards the end of May’s time spent volunteering in Spain, things began to get increasingly bad for the loyalist army. May and other International Brigaders were transported to Barcelona until they could work at a hospital in Mataro. Something to be said about the loyalist cause is that not only was a lot of commands brought on by people from various backgrounds (Germany, America, Italy, Czech Republic, etc.), but many of the volunteers were never in one place for too long depending on the services needed in certain areas. May worked at the hospital in Mataro for about three months before she was sent back to Paris in preparation for an official return to the United States. May took the same boat home as she took to Europe, The Normandie. She arrived back to the United States on September 26th, 1938 where her family had been waiting to celebrate her accomplishments and time spent abroad.

Following the Spanish Civil War, May continued to be an active civilian when it came to helping others. Not only did she work as a private duty nurse, but she worked at Bellevue Hospital in New York as well. When World War Two struck, May travelled once again, but this time to Panama in order to work in the Canal Zone. I was not able to find information about her time spent volunteered in the Canal Zone, but I found that Panama was one of the most important locations, specifically in Latin America, during the War. Even after she had completed her duties in Panama and moved to Chicago to marry Jacob, May Levine Hartzman remained active for the causes she believed in alongside Jacob. This included a labor union and other progressive activities. Together they moved to Los Angeles, California with their family in 1957. Jacob passed away due to Congestive Heart Failure on December 17th, 1995 and May passed away on May 16th, 1996.

Conclusion

May Levine-Hartzman was born and raised to help the world be a better place. She was raised a progressive with a strong will to fight for what she thought to be true. She was strong enough to leave everything she knew behind and work in a foreign country amongst strangers for a year. Even though the country she grew up in was not supportive of her decision to volunteer, she never let their negative opinion deter her from participating.  She found love during a particularly difficult journey during the war, and the values she demonstrated in Europe carried with her to Latin America and the rest of her life. To the historical archives that aim to keep the memory of the Spanish Civil War alive, May Levine-Hartzman is one of many. To me, May Levine-Hartzman was a strong female warrior and a true inspiration. As someone who is passionate about travelling and volunteering, I will always keep her story in mind when I create my own.

Notes

1. Page 87 of the Official Journal of the American Association for the History of Nursing

2.  Page 87 of the Official Journal of the American Association for the History of Nursing

3.  NYU Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

4.  ALBA Online Database- May Levine’s Profile

5.  ALBA Online Database- May Levine’s Profile

Bibliography

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Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives — ALBA Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

“Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive Collection Lists, Guides, and Inventories.” NYU Libraries |

Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives — ALBA Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

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Education: Jacob Hartzman. N.p., n.d. Web.

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