Editing International Brigades (section)

=== East Germany ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0522-177, Erich Mielke (cropped).jpg|thumb|160px|left|[[Erich Mielke]], most powerful [[German Democratic Republic|DDR]] combatant]]
Probably in no country of the world did the International Brigades combatants enjoy the prestige comparable to that bestowed on them in [[East Germany]].<ref>"only Poland came close in its adulation of former Spanish veterans", Arnold Krammer, ''The Cult of the Spanish Civil War in East Germany'', [in:] ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 39/4 (2004), p. 535. More detailed monographs are Josie McLellan, ''Anti-Fascism and Memory in East Germany. Remembering the International Brigades 1945-1989'', Oxford 2004, ISBN 0199276269, and Michael Uhl, ''Mythos Spanien. Das Erbe der Internationalen Brigaden in der DDR'', Bonn 2004, ISBN 3801250318</ref> Though after 1945, they were celebrated in all communist states as freedom fighters against fascism, their position was secondary and the official narrative centred upon other threads, e.g. the [[:pl:1 Armia Polska w ZSRR|USSR-raised army]] in [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], the [[Slovak National Uprising]] in [[Czechoslovakia]], or the [[Yugoslav Partisans|partisan quasi-state]] in [[Yugoslavia]]. No such narrative was available in the case of East Germany, whose “communist government found itself without historical roots beyond the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe and turned the heroism of the Spanish Civil War fighters into the myth that became a central focus of the German Democratic Republic”.<ref> Arnold Krammer, ''[https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-6929 Internationale Brigaden in der DDR]'', [in:] ''H/Soz/Kult'' 42/2 (2005)</ref> Factional purges of the early 1950s affected German veterans (e.g. the cases of [[Franz Dahlem]] or [[Wilhelm Zaisser]]) far less than e.g. in Czechoslovakia, though some “Brigaders faced an uncertain existence as they navigated the tortuous political hairpin curves of life under Stalinism and the continual and often critical need for political realignment”.<ref>“by 1950, the Party had purified the anti-fascist movement of resistance workers, concentration camp survivors, and anti-Nazi spies, leaving only active fighters and committed Party members. What remained was to bring the story of the anti-fascist fighters, a common euphemism for the International Brigades, into ideological alignment”, Kramer 2005</ref> No deviation from official line was allowed; the portrait of IB as in ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'' was considered unacceptable and the novel remained black-listed until the late 1960.<ref>Vjeran Pavlaković, ''Yugoslav volunteers in the spanish Civil War'', Beograd 2016, p. 99. Hemingway's novel received different treatment in other Communist countries, e.g. in Poland it was an obligatory school lecture, Jakub Wysmułek, ''Dąbrowszczacy: między symbolem faszyzmu a polityką antykomunizmu'', [in:] ''Kultura i Społeceństwo'' 2 (2019), p. 144. In Yugoslavia in Zagreb alone there were 11 editions between 1952 and 1989, Pavlaković 2016, p. 99</ref> 

Like in other communist countries, the IB veterans – usually referred to as ''Spanienkämpfer'' – were overrepresented in power structures. They took three of the most important military posts: [[Heinz Hoffmann]] as commander of [[National People's Army|Nationale Volksarmee]], [[Erich Mielke]] as head of Ministry for Security, and [[Friedrich Dickel]] as Minister of Interior. Many held other key posts in army and security, e.g. [[:de:Herbert Grünstein|Herbert Grünstein]] was Deputy Minister of the Interior while [[Ewald Munschke]] became chief of administration in NVA. There were 10 former interbrigadistas who entered the Political Bureau of [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands]], some briefly (e.g. [[Anton Ackermann]], Dahlem or Zaisser) and some for decades (e.g. [[Paul Verner]], [[Kurt Hager]] and [[Alfred Neumann (East German politician)|Alfred Neumann]]).<ref> Krammer 2004, p. 539</ref> Numerous ex-combatants assumed high positions in media.<ref> Max Kahane founded Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst and was the chief commentator of ''Neues Deutschland''. Georg Stibi was the chief editor of ''Berliner Zeitung'', then ''Leipziger Volkszeitung'', and finally ''Neues Deutschland''. Frieda Kantorowicz had a high administrative position with ADN. Erich Henschke was the editor-in-chief of ''Berliner Zeitung'' and Kurt Julius Goldstein held the same position in the Deutschlandsender broadcast station</ref> The list of veterans who “rose to the highest ranks in the East German government runs into hundreds”.<ref> Krammer 2004, p. 537</ref>
[[File:Denkmal der Spanienkämpfer.jpg|thumb|''Spanienkämpfer'' monument, Berlin]]
German participation in the International Brigades remained the ideological historiographic backbone of DDR until its collapse. East Germany itself officially acknowledged that “the German-speaking units of the International Brigades represented the nucleus of the armed forces of the future GDR”.<ref> Peter Joachim Lapp, ''Traditionspflege in der DDR'', Berlin [West] 1988, ISBN 9783921226322, pp. 74-75</ref> Books by [[Ludwig Renn]] became standard works and at times obligatory reading.<ref> Krammer 2004, p. 535</ref> Numerous streets, schools, bridges, factories and troop units were named after the ''Spanienkämpfer'';<ref> Krammer 2005</ref> in 1968 they were dedicated a monument, unveiled in East Berlin.<ref> ''[https://bildhauerei-in-berlin.de/bildwerk/denkmal-fuer-die-deutschen-interbrigadisten-5399/ Denkmal für die deutschen Interbrigadisten]'', [in:] ''Bildhauerei in Berlin'' sevice</ref> Attempts to challenge the propagandistic use of German IB history, like the 1979 novel ''Collin'' by [[Stefan Heym]], remained isolated episodes with no major impact. The 1986 fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the war saw another outpouring of adulation,<ref> Krammer 2004, p. 558</ref> even though over time the volunteers “became cardboard figures which mirrored the ossification of the State itself”.<ref> Krammer 2005</ref> However, only a few days before the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], on November 5, 1989, [[Walter Janka]] appeared at a public reading of his memoirs to an overflow crowd at the [[Deutsches Theater (Berlin)|Deutsches Theater]]. The event was broadcast live on radio and shown later on television.<ref> Krammer 2004, p. 559</ref>