The secret book about the Catalan revolution of 1936

Barcelona"When the 90th anniversary of the start of the Civil War is commemorated this summer, I am sure that not much will be said about the revolution that took place in Catalonia between July 1936 and May 1937," explains historian and former deputy Aurora Madaula (Mollet del Vallès, 1978). Kaminski, one of the intellectuals who were in Barcelona at the time and ended up dedicating an entire book to it, The ones from Barcelona (1937). Adesiara recovers it in Catalan, with an extensive prologue by Madaula and with the revised translation that Francesc Parcerisas He did it for Ediciones del Cotal in 1977.

"It was an anarchist publishing house that published mostly translated literature: they asked me for Kaminski's book in Catalan and also a collection of short stories by Katherine Mansfield in Spanish, The Garden Party and Other Stories "Recall," he says. "At that time I wasn't familiar with Kaminsky. In fact, it's interesting to publish..." The ones from Barcelona Because when discussing the anarcho-syndicalist uprising of 1936, only the following are usually mentioned: Tribute to Catalonia, of George OrwellBoth Orwell and Kaminski were leftists, but their attitudes toward the war were very different. Orwell was a writer who ended up fighting. Kaminski, on the other hand, was very critical of anarchist violence.

Aurora Madaula explains that until a couple of decades ago, Kaminski was such an enigmatic figure that it was believed he had died in a concentration camp during the Second World War: "He was confused with another Kaminski, but Hanns-Erich succeeded, but Hanns-Erich succeeded, but Hanns-Erich succeeded, but Hanns-Erich succeeded, along with Hanns-Erich succeeded, in France." They both ended up settling in Buenos Aires, where he died sometime in the 1960s, a date we haven't yet been able to determine because the Milei administration puts up many obstacles when it comes to accessing archives."

Born in Labiau in 1899, Hanns-Erich Kaminski's motto was to be clear and direct in order to convey the truth, Madaula continues. Kaminski was a great anti-fascist, documenting the rise of the right in both Italy and Germany. In 1933, two days before the fall of the Reichstag, he and Karfunkel had to go into exile in Paris, and it was there that they met two very important figures in preparation for their trip to Barcelona in 1936 and the writing of their book: the philosopher Emma Goldman (Kaunas, 1869 - Toronto, 1971; Utrecht, 1899 - Lys-Saint-Georges, 2000).

Open the doors to a journalist

It was, above all, Goldman who "opened all the doors" for Kaminski during the Catalan journey he recounts in The ones from BarcelonaOne of the most revealing chapters is InvestigationIn this book, the journalist recounts in the first person his visit "to the lion's den," what would later be known as the Cheka. "We are not civil servants, we are revolutionaries. We work for the revolution, and our duty is to be inflexible," says one of the members of the political police whom Kaminski interviews in 1936. "Don't you condemn and execute them yourselves?" the author asks. And the response he receives is this: "Absolutely not! We are not judges, much less executioners. It seems you want to make us out to be murderers! Rest assured; we are just a police force, we are only concerned with discovering the enemies of the revolution; the sentences must be handed down by the courts." Although Kaminski, during his visit to the cells, speaks with some prisoners who claim, "without exception, that they are treated very well," he is suspicious of the capabilities of this political police force—responsible for numerous tortures—when he asks them about their “respective occupations” and specifies that among them “there is no intellectual,” before adding: “The political police of Catalonia are made up only of workers, peasants, and employees.”

“Above all, despite their pro-anarchist stance, Kaminski and Karfunkel were, above all, intellectuals who liked to theorize,” says Madaula. “That’s why they had no problem criticizing the direction their own people were taking.” In The ones from BarcelonaHanns-Erich Kaminski dedicates chapters to the people's courts, libertarian communism, collectivizations, and the death of Buenaventura Durruti on November 20, 1936. "Late at night, the body arrived in Barcelona," he writes. "It had rained all day, and the cars covering the hearse turned it reddish." In another chapter, On Las RamblasHe describes "the heart of the city" and the changes it had undergone thanks to the revolution: he mentions "the Catalan and Spanish anthems blaring nonstop from loudspeakers," the absence of hats among the male population, and also the division between communists and anarchists. The former "had taken up residence in the Hotel Colón." The latter had "occupied the employers' union headquarters." The differences between the two would eventually be played out a few months later, during the May Days of 1937, which directly resulted in the departure of anarchists and members of the POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) from republican institutions and the decline of revolutionary power.