Andie Fortier
Cinematic Spain (Fall 2017)
Final Essay
Professor Sara Villa – The New School
David Miller
Personal Statement
I began my research reading a collection of letters that David Miller himself had written. I began to familiarize myself with his language and his extremely detail oriented, observant writing. Reading these letters allowed me to begin to infer certain things in regards to his experience, but most of all they sparked my curiosity and only pushed me further to ask more questions and find more answers. Many of these questions were answered by the in the Fredericka Martin Papers (ALBA #1 box#19 folder 16). Her correspondences with Miller, as well as her meticulous collection of newspaper articles and writings about Miller allowed me to view the Spanish Civil war through the eyes of an individual. It humanized what is so often inhuman.
Essay Narrative
David Miller devoted much of his life to the work he began by volunteering to help aid leftist forces in the Spanish Civil War. He was a Jewish American devoted to anti fascist efforts. While he was a soldier fighting in Spain, he more importantly was a writer, aiming to document the efforts of volunteers in Spain and provide a platform for Jewish volunteers to express their experiences. His identity as a self-proclaimed Zionist provides context for his illegal participation in the war effort, as well as a platform for the work we are doing in sharing the stories and individual experiences of those that participated in the Abraham Lincoln brigade.
David Miller boarded the Queen Mary, a passenger ship departing from New York City, and set sail for Europe (David Miller Papers, ALBA .076). He boarded the ship on March 10, 1937 and crossed a series of mountains to get into Spain. This information can be found in a series of detailed letters that Miller kept throughout his time in Spain. He writes about daily life in the barracks, civilian and soldier relationships, and the different places such as “Tarzana” and “Madrigueras” (Miller, 1460). These letters appeared to be censored by the Spanish government since a few times Miller explains that due to this possible censorship he cannot go into detail about the state of the government in Spain itself, in his letters home to the United States. A few times Miller writes about his involvement with the “George Washington Battalion,” which I have inferred is potentially code for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, being that the government was reading many of his letters (David Miller Papers, ALBA .076).
Perhaps one of the most enlightening sources in regards to Miller’s time in Spain and motivations for volunteering is his obituary published in “Jewish Currents” magazine. David Miller was “One of the last Americans to leave Madrid, he went to Barcelona by boat from Valencia and then overland across Pyrenees to France. There the French put him in one of the infamous internment camps in southern France until he was finally released to go home” (Jewish Currents, 42). He was extremely devoted to the cause in Spain and after would enlist in the United States army in WWII. He spent his time in Spain writing about and documenting Jewish experiences in the war effort and would spend the rest of his life fighting for recognition for these many volunteers.
He was particularly proud of the 200 Palestinian Jews who came to Spain to fight. He came to Spain in 1937 a Zionist and remained one all his life. He was an example of pluralism in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and our veteran’s organization, the VALB. Obviously there are various definitions of anti-fascism and various types of anti fascist people (Jewish Currents, 42). His pre World War II Zionism and commitment to anti fascism is fascinating in how it relates to his identity as someone of the Jewish religion. Perhaps even more admirable is his anti-fascist commitment as a Jewish person, pre WWII where Jews would be widely persecuted under Hitler’s regime. Miller had the foresight to fight for the rights of the oppressed even without a direct personal connection.
Fredericka Martin was largely in part responsible for the documentation of these anti-fascist efforts and contributions that Miller made to the Civil War and beyond. Martin was responsible for the preservation of many articles written about Miller as well as their many correspondences in regards to Miller’s writings. Included in this is a passage entitled “Forest in memory of anti-fascists” in the “The Jerusalem Post International Edition.” Here it was described that a forest would be set aside and preserved in Cleveland, Ohio for David Miller and his wife Zelda. The article describes Miller as someone “who left &bequest to aid Israeli veterans of the International Brigade in Spain, with whom he fought in 1936” (The Jerusalem Post International Edition). Miller also set aside funds for those who he fought with that lived in Israel. He was devoted to creating a pension for these veterans in particular, since Israeli law did not qualify them for this pension unless they specifically fought against Hitler in WWII (The Jerusalem Post International Edition).
The life of David Miller, devoted to anti-fascism and providing recognition to Jews who contributed to the effort, should be known. Stories like this are often filtered out of our history. It is a subtle form of censorship that is extremely important to combat. By telling the stories of the volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade we are not only keeping their memory alive, but we are also keeping alive the fight against fascism, rebelling against who creates history, and who decides what stories are told.
Works cited:
Fredericka Martin. Frederica Marten Papers. ALBA #1, Box #19, Folder 16. Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. NYU.
“Jewish Currents”. Vertical Files: Individuals. May 1978 Val 32, No 5. ALBA VF 002, Box 6, Folder 25. Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. NYU.
Miller, David. David Miller Papers. April-September 1937. ALBA .076, Folder 1. Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. NYU.