Adriana Chavez
María Hernández-Ojeda
Final Essay
HONS 211J –1
Volunteer Max Shufer by Student Adriana Chavez
Personal Statement
The American public school system does a pitiful job teaching us world history, nor does American culture encourage us to keep up with foreign affairs. I went into this class expecting to learn about Spain, not the US, and was excited to do so. However, I was flabbergasted by the connections I found between the Spanish Civil War and the current rise of fascism in the US. Additionally, though I wasn’t shocked to learn of my country’s non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War, I was surprised and proud to hear about the large number of Americans who bravely volunteered to fight for the Second Spanish Republic.
Max Shufer is a volunteer who came from a similar background to the student population at Hunter College. He was a bright, working-class New Yorker, a CUNY graduate, and an ethnic minority. His contribution to the War forces us to confront whether we would’ve joined the Spanish Civil War if we had lived in the 1930s. Or, if we would fight to make a difference in another conflict that might present itself in the modern-day. It was a privilege to learn about Max for this essay, especially through interviewing his youngest daughter, Jane Shufer. Classes in the humanities often keep subjects in the theoretical. Students like myself might understand what they are learning about, but not connect to it in a concrete, non-abstract way. However, writing about Max Shufer and speaking to Jane firmly brought the Spanish Civil War into reality for me. It brought the War and the members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade closer to me than I ever expected, but am extremely grateful for.
Introduction
Most countries and people ignored Spain’s cry for help, as Franco’s army attacked Spain’s democratically elected Republican government and tore down Spain’s democracy. The Second Spanish Republic was ill-equipped for the attack and was in desperate need of support. Across the pond, in the United States, a young, Jewish, New Yorker named Max Shufer heard Spain’s plea. He risked imprisonment by sneaking into Spain under a fake name and risked his life by fighting. Not only did Shufer spend a year as a prisoner of war for defending Spanish democracy, but once he returned to the United States, was blacklisted, fired from his job for doing so. Still, after enduring over a year in a prison camp, he was able to marry, have children, and become a dancer. In this essay, I will analyze Max Shufer’s personal experience before, during, and after the war, from eager college student to corporal, to a man, who, back in the United States, continued to be affected by his participation in the War, and who always kept it close in his heart.
Before the Spanish Civil War
Max Shufer was born in Manhattan, New York on September 7th, 1914, the son of Soloman Shufer and Anna Katz Shufer, He was the second eldest and the first boy of six children. He grew up in the Bronx and graduated from Morris High School. After attending Commonwealth College for a summer, went to the City College of New York, the first person in his family to go to college. He was a gymnast in both high school and college, and a member of Phi Betta Capa at CCNY. He graduated in 1936 with a Bachelor of Science. After graduation, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“Commoners in Spain: Students, Faculty, and Alumni of Commonwealth College in the Spanish Civil War,” albavolunteer.org).
Idealism motivated Shufer to fight for the Republic. He was driven by the hope of defeating fascism, by his passion for the cause and by comradery, as anti-fascism and communism were popular interests for the students at City College at that time. Shufer was also Jewish, another factor that motivated him to fight against the Nationalists. He experienced anti-Semitism firsthand in the US, in one instance, while traveling, encountering a man who genuinely thought that because he was Jewish, he had horns. The Nationalists too were antisemitic, and Shufer was aware that Hitler was funding them (J. Shufer).
In 1937, Shufer applied for a passport, using the name “Irving Rabinowitz” in order to sneak into Spain and join the Republican army. As a result, he gained the nickname “Rabbit,” a play on his assumed last name. In Spain, he was also called “Conejo,” the Spanish word for rabbit (J. Shufer). Interestingly, the name he took on sounds much more distinctly Jewish than his real one. It is unknown if the name “Irving Rabbinowitz” was assigned to him, or if he chose it. I would assume he likely did not choose it. He was in more danger by announcing himself as Jewish in a country that was overthrown by anti-Semites, the allies of Nazis. On the opposite spectrum, he might’ve purposefully chosen the name to proudly display his Jewish heritage against anti-Semites. Or perhaps, since Shufer was Jewish, the very Jewish sounding name “Irving Rabbinowitz” was simply a believable alias for him to take on. Neither I, nor his daughter Jane, know the answer to this mystery.
During the Spanish Civil War
Shufer sailed to Spain in July 1937, trekking through the Pyrenees to join the International Brigades (J. Shufer). Shufer was assigned to the XVth International Brigade, Lincoln-Washington Battalion’s Machinegun Company. He was a section leader and a corporal (Carrol). On March 10th, he was leading his squad on Belchite-Fuendetodos Road when he saw hundreds of unarmed soldiers pass by. After passing the Sanctuary of Pueyo, his squad came under fire, and had to take cover all morning and afternoon. Shufer decided they should retreat after one shell came too close and nearly took out the entire squad. They came under tank fire after running down the road and were separated. Max and three other squad members wound up in a gulley, which led to fascist territory where they could be shot. They decided to proceed through the gulley anyway. One squad member, whose name is unknown but was from Kentucky, went first, and was shot. They then decided to hide in the gully until they could sneak away at night. Soon after, however, they heard two Nationalist soldiers shout, “¡Manos arriba!” They were captured and led back to the fascist headquarters (Geiser 45-46).
Shufer became a prisoner of war at San Pedro de Cardeñas, where he would spend most of his time in Spain. He was put into solitary confinement and beaten there, supposedly because he talked too much. Disturbingly, one prison guard, whom the prisoners nicknamed Sticky because he carried a stick, would beat them with a bull’s penis (J. SHufer). Carl Geiser’s book Prisoners of the Good Fight describes the poor quality of the food the prisoners were given; Jane Shufer told me that her father had to eat so many garbanzo beans at the prison camp that he could never eat them again.
The other prisoners looked towards Shufer as their leader, a role he took on. For instance, the authorities of the prison camp wanted the prisoners to have a close order drill and the Nationalist soldiers failed to effectively teach the prisoners the routine. Shufer thus took over the job and the calisthenics soon became succinct (Geiser 132). Shufer’s effective work leading the order drill reflects his later career as a dancer in New York: both dancing and order drills involve routinized steps and coordination. Leading the order drills was not the only time Shufer served as a teacher in the San Pedro de Cardeñas. The prisoners still found ways to establish a life and community at San Pedro, starting up a newspaper and teaching classes. According to Jane, her father taught chess and one other subject, either math or physics. Later, the other American prisoners elected Shufer to represent them when they were in Zapatari, close to being released. Shufer would meet with a small group of other prisoners, each of whom represented another one of the international brigades. Together they discussed how food and tobacco should be distributed. The other prisoners of war also later also elected Max to speak to the prison’s night commanding officer about asking the American Counsel to send more food (Geiser 203-206).
After the Spanish Civil War
Shufer was released/exchanged on April 22, 1939. His father sent him money from Los Angeles so he could get home from Spain. A few months later, on June 23, 1939, he returned to the U.S. aboard the Manhattan. (Carrol + “Commoners in Spain”). Back in his native country, Shufer married his first wife, Sylvia Friedberg in 1941, with whom he had three children: Alicia, Lorraine, and Leslie. He attended Columbia University for graduate school, earning a degree in physics. He became a physicist for the National Bureau of Standards during World War II. However, he was fired when the House on American Activities Committee emerged and was blacklisted for being a veteran of the Lincoln Brigade, which they assumed meant he was a communist.
The article “Commoners in Spain: Students, Faculty, and Alumni of Commonwealth College in the Spanish Civil War” in The Volunteer states that Shufer joined the US Communist Party in 1935, though no source for this information is provided. He told Jane he was never was really part of the communist party, since he never went to any meetings. Nevertheless, he had nothing communism; many of his friends were communists (J. Shufer).
Though Shufer was proud of his service in Spain, he was devastated that it put him on the blacklist (J. Shufer). In 1948, he wrote to the National Bureau of Standards to inquire about the charges against him and to request a hearing with the Loyalty Board. “I am not and have never been a member of the Communist Party,” Max Shufer wrote.. “Hence, in reply, I can only say that if having been in Spain made me automatically member of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, then that I say. However, I have had no official relations with that organization” (M. Shufer). Unlike veterans of World War II, who also fought against fascism, Shufer was not perceived as a hero for his service. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade fought for Spain, yes, but they also fought for the US by attempting to stop the spread of fascism and to avoid an event like World War II. He put himself at risk to do this, sneaking into Spain, having bullets fly at him, and enduring horrific imprisonment at San Pedro de Cardeñas. However, the US vilified the veterans of the Lincoln Brigade for their service, automatically associated them with communism, a threat that was itself unprecedented. Not only were these veterans rejected by Spain, since the Republicans lost the war, but they were rejected by their own country.
Shufer married his second wife, Shirley Aldor, in October 1961. They had met on vacation at a resort in the Catskills. These resorts were places men and women commonly went to meet one another. Both Max and Shirley went with their sisters (J. Shufer). Shirley’s parents had no objections to the marriage because Shufer had served in Spain. Rather, they cared more that he was divorced. Max and Shirley had one daughter together, Jane.
Shufer loved to dance, and had always wanted to be a dancer. He was quite athletic, though short. He took dance classes, and in middle age, began collaborating with renowned choreographer Charles Weidman (J. Shufer). Two months after he married Shirley, Shufer danced in Bach’s Christmas Oratio for the Charles Weidman Dance Studio as a member of the original cast, at the St. John the Divine Cathedral (Daniel 84). Amongst other performances, he also danced in Weidman’s “Lynch Town.” A solider, a physicist, and a dancer all sound like drastically different careers, but Max Shufer had them all. Many veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade describe fighting with the Second Spanish Republic as the most significant thing they did. However, the excitement in Shufer’s life didn’t end when the War did.
If Shufer had regrets about joining the Lincoln Brigade, he didn’t express them. He was extremely proud of his service in Spain and frequently took Jane to the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade reunion dinners which were held each month. His participation in the Spanish Civil War was not a one-and-done event in his life. He remained just as passionate about the cause in later adulthood as when he joined the Good Fight in his early twenties. He was a regular reader of The Volunteer and was delighted by the news of Franco’s death. He spoke about his time in Spain so openly that his daughter doesn’t remember not knowing about the Spanish Civil War and her father’s service. While Spain would issue the Pact of Forgetting, Shufer actively kept the memory of the War alive for his family and in his own life. Commendably, he gave his daughter an education about the Spanish Civil War so that she knew its importance. Meanwhile, many Americans, not to mentio Spaniards, know little about it and its impact.
Conclusion
Max Shufer was a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a physicist, dancer, and CUNY alum who, as a young man, foresaw the dangers of fascism and fought to defeat it, invigorated by the cause and by comradery. The Spanish Civil War continued to affect his life, but not just because he was blacklisted for his involvement in it. He did not resent Spain, or deeply regret his involvement in the War. Rather, he chose to make his status as a veteran into an identity. Though Max Shufer sadly passed away in 2006, his legacy and sacrifice will continue to be remembered.
Works Cited
Caroll, Peter N. The Volunteer, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2, pg. 18, 2006.
“Commoners in Spain: Students, Faculty, and Alumni of Commonwealth College in the Spanish Civil War,” The Volunteer, albavolunteer.org/2018/11/commoners-in-spain-students-faculty-and-alumni/.
Certificate of Marriage, Max Shufer to Shirley Aldor, 25 October 1961, Manhattan, New York, New York City Marriage License Index.
Certificate of Marriage, Max Shufer to Sylvia Friedberg, 20 March 1941, The Bronx, New York, New York City Marriage License Index.
Daniel, Clay. “Reconstructing Weidman: A Dancer’s Perspective.” Dance Research Journal, vol. 39, no. 2, 2007, p. 84.
Geiser, Carl. Prisoners of the Good Fight: the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. L. Hill, 1986.
Shufer, Jane. Personal interview with Adriana Chavez. 13 December 2020.
Shufer, Max. Letter to Raymond A. Kirby. 15 November 1948.