What can a simple fan tell us about war? Explore with us the Spanish Civil War through a fan signed in 1938 by men fighting in the International Brigades in support of the Spanish Republic under attack by General Franco’s nationalists and their European fascist allies. On the backside of the fan, thirty-one men from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom handwrote their names. Who were these men who survived the war? What compelled them to leave their homes to fight fascism in Spain?

This website reconstructs parts of these men’s lives and experiences through traces left in documents and archives. Stories from the Spanish Civil War is a project of the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University. Researched by a student-faculty team, the project explores the Spanish Civil War through two historical artifacts that belong to German-born Arizona resident Bernd Häber. Häber received the fan and the photograph as a young boy growing up in East Berlin from his great-uncle Johann (Hans) Maslowski, himself a member of the International Brigades in Spain. The project focuses on the American volunteers.

To learn more about the history of the project, click below: