The Photograph

In addition to the fan with the signatures of international volunteers, Bernd Häber also inherited a photo from his great-uncle Hans Maslowski that shows Hans with a group of men and fellow brigadistas. Our research project traced the origin of the photograph and the men pictured in it.

Hailed as the birth of modern photojournalism, the now iconic images of the Spanish Civil War by photographers like Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and others, came to define the nature of the war in the popular imagination. These photos documented life on the frontlines and in the rearguard. They captured the experience of civilians, refugees, and fighters, including thousands of volunteers from the International Brigades who traveled to Spain to help the beleaguered Spanish Republic halt the nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco.

The war also produced more personal images, like the photograph taken in the town of Villena that Hans Maslowski brought with him from Spain to the United States. A seal on the print reveals that the photograph was taken in the relative tranquility of a photographic studio owned by Luis García.

Further research, including a trip to Villena by project co-mentor Ana Varela in the summer of 2022, uncovered important information, including the names of several men who posed for the photographer Luis García in Villena over 85 years ago. 

---

Johann Maslowski

A native of Germany, Johann (Hans) Maslowski migrated to the United States in 1927. He eventually settled in New York City where, in 1936, he worked as an elevator operator. There he decided to join the International Brigades. In official documents his name appears as “John” or “Hans” Maslowski. 

On February 6, 1937, Maslowski boarded the S.S. Paris with scores of other American volunteers, including John Palu. By mid-February they arrived in Spain. Palu crossed into Spain by bus from the French city of Perpignan. Hans may have followed the same route to reach Albacete, the headquarters of the International Brigades. Palu was sent to fight at Jarama with the American Abraham Lincoln Battalion of the 15^th International Brigade. Hans, like other German-American volunteers, was assigned to the 12^th Brigade. They joined the Thälmann Battery.

For the next six months, according to Hans’ International Brigades military card, he fought at the front in “Aragon, Huesca, and Madrid-Center.” He returned to the front on February 20, 1938, a few days after being promoted to sergeant. By then he had been assigned to the 35^th Anglo-American artillery battery.

---

The Thälmann Battery and Villena

Situated on the train line linking Madrid to the Mediterranean port of Alicante, Villena was relatively close to Albacete (headquarters of the International Brigades) and Almansa, the artillery training base to which Hans and other volunteers in this project were assigned. 

Although a relatively quiet rearguard, the town of Villena experienced some nationalist attacks. In the first year of the war two aerial bombings targeted the train station and disrupted troop movements. Next to the station was the Military Hospital set up by the Socorro Rojo Internacional (International Red Aid), where wounded soldiers were sent to recover. 

After months at the front, the trip to Villena must have been a welcome change of scene for Hans and his companions. The artillery group that arrived in Villena in August 1937 included three batteries (Gramsci, Liebknecht, and Thälmann). The soldiers were quartered in the building of the former school of the religious order of the Salesians and other buildings in town. 

In Villena, the brigadistas were able to rest and interact with the local population. Soon after their arrival, they organized a children’s festival. The press reported that the soldiers distributed 2,500 packages of sweets among the children who were also treated to the screening of movies.

In turn, the local authorities organized a festival in honor of the brigades. The program by the Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas (Unified Socialist Youth) included the projection of the Russian film Battleship Potemkin, music and dances performed by local artists, and songs from the different artillery batteries performed by the band of the International Brigades. The artillery group was also presented with a flag.  

In the fall of 1937, the artillery group returned to the front. The photograph from Villena, which Maslowski brought back to the United States, was probably taken during the weeks of rest he enjoyed there in 1937. Who are the men in the photograph? 

---

The Photograph

While no survivors of the photograph remain, relatives were able to confirm the identities of some of the men in the image. In Villena, project co-mentor Ana Varela met Francisco Soler, the son of Antonio Soler (#14). The Soler family lived within walking distance of the building were some of the German volunteers were housed. Francisco was a child in 1937, but he recalled his parents interacting with the soldiers and receiving food, like chocolate and cheese, from one of them, named Willy. 

Willy is most likely Willy Richiger (#13), a Swiss volunteer in the Thälmann Battery. Another soldier is Johannes Niebuhr (#8), a fellow German-American from the same unit who travelled with Hans on the SS Paris from the United States to Spain. The other volunteers in the photograph were probably also members of the Thälmann Battery, but we have not yet been able to identify them.

Varela also met Carmen Valera, the daughter of José Valera (#6) and niece of Juan Cañizo (#11). Conversations with other family members confirmed additional names: Ricardo Pérez (#2), José Lillo (#3), and Fernando Forte (#9). Most of the men in the photograph were friends and neighbors. They worked in the region’s renowned shoemaking industry. We hope that future research may provide positive identification for the remainder of the Spaniards and the brigadistas in the photo.

Juana García, the daughter of the photographer Luis García, still lives in the street where her father’s original photo studio used to be and where the photograph was taken, probably in 1937. Juana, a child at the time, remembers her father’s large studio filled with his photographs and his paintings.

---

The Photographer

Luis García Ferriz was born in Villena in 1888. An aspiring artist, he left Villena at the age of 16 to study art in Valencia and Madrid. By 1908, he was exhibiting his work and receiving awards. Because his desire to pursue studies abroad did not please his father, Luis eventually returned to Villena and set up an Arts School. In 1913, he established a photographic studio with fellow artist and friend Hermógenes Esquembre. In 1920, his father helped Luis to open his studio. 

A 1928 ad for the studio in a local magazine illustrates how Luis, following his artistic training, combined photography (Foto) and painting (Pintura). He used light to imitate the style of the great masters, like Rembrandt, relying on natural light in the morning and shifting to artificial light in the afternoon.  

Luis García continued to work in his studio until he retired. He was honored by Villena as a painter, with a street (Pintor Luis García) named after him. He died in his hometown in 1959.

---

The End of the War

In September 1938, a year after the Thälmann Battery was stationed in Villena, Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrín announced the dissolution of the International Brigades. Six months later, General Franco declared victory in the war, ending the short-lived Spanish Republic. It was the beginning of a dictatorship that ruled Spain for almost four decades.

The war and its outcome left no lives untouched. For many Spaniards who had supported the Republic, the nationalist victory meant persecution and exile. Some men in the photograph spent time in jails and labor camps before they were allowed to return home. Others across the region joined thousands in the port of Alicante seeking to leave the country—many to never return to Spain.

As for Hans Maslowski, after Negrín’s announcement, he spent time in Villanueva de Castellón with his Anglo-American battery waiting to be evacuated from Spain. While most members of his company arrived in the United States on February 4, 1939, he and others remained in French concentration camps for a few weeks. In a letter sent by the Delegate of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in France to French authorities on February 27, 1939, Hans is listed among one hundred Americans and Canadians held at the camp of Saint Cyprien in the south of France. It is possible that the photo above, also in Bernd Häber’s collection, shows Hans with three other men in military uniform in that camp.

Eventually, the Americans were allowed to leave the French camp. On March 16, 1939, Hans was at Le Havre to board the S.S. Roosevelt. He reached New York on March 25, carrying with him his memories of Spain as well as the two photographs and the signed fan that are at the center of this project. 

---