Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades?

Discussions on all aspects of the Spanish Civil War including the Condor Legion, the Germans fighting for Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
Chinaski1917
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#16

Post by Chinaski1917 » 27 Oct 2007, 17:31

part 2
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Chinaski1917
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#17

Post by Chinaski1917 » 27 Oct 2007, 17:33

part 3
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Chinaski1917
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#18

Post by Chinaski1917 » 27 Oct 2007, 17:35

a lot of them were sailors = "ναυτικός".

bools
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#19

Post by bools » 28 Oct 2007, 23:15

Hi Chinaski,

Many thanks for all of your help here. I did not realise there was such significant Greek representation in the IB. I'll get to work (with some help) translating these. It will be interesting to see how many went on to the Resistance movement in WWII and what their experiences were.

Thanks again.

Bools

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nickzark
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades

#20

Post by nickzark » 17 Apr 2010, 15:27

I was in Barcelona last week and now i am interested in Spanish War.I dont know many things about it.Its is first time to be honest that i want to know about this piece of history.Can anyone help? (first time i hear that there where and greeks in Spanish war)

noitlo
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades

#21

Post by noitlo » 31 Dec 2010, 18:07

This is the list of Albanian Vulnetari
Asim Vokshi komandat i batalionit "Garibaldi"
Daut Muço(Podgorani)
Dhimitër Kosta
Emrush Myftari
Faik Dardha
Hulusi Spahiu
Ibrahim Kurani
Iljaz Pashaj
Justina Shkupi
Kostë Kolombo
Mane Nishova
Mehmet Shehu
Musa Kame (Fratari)
Petro Marko
Qamil Sherifi
Ramiz Varvarica
Sabri Lumani kryeredaktor i revistës Vullnetari i Lirisë Spanjë, 1937
Skënder Luarasi
Stefan Duni
Stivens Thanasi
Shaban Basha
Teni Konomi
Thimio Gogozoto
Urfi Agolli
Veli Deda
Xhafer Miraka
Xhelal Abaz Bajrami (Çami)
Xhemal Kada
Ymer Puka
Zef Hoti
Zef Prela
Zihni Muço

sarita1711
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades

#22

Post by sarita1711 » 14 Nov 2011, 07:33

[quote="Chinaski1917"]List of "Other Fighters".

Where did you get this from? It would really help with my research.

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CHARLEMAGNE 4
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades?

#23

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 10 Dec 2014, 10:40

The action of Greek volunteers in Spain

Most of the Greek volunteers fought since early 1937 on the lines of the 15th International Brigade and especially in the Balkan battalion "G.Dimitrof". But they were scattered all over their battalions. With the passage of time, in mid-1937, established Greek company, whose commander took John Pantelias, carpenter, under the pseudonym John Margaritis, deputy Reader Deliyiannis, tobacco worker, under the pseudonym John Siganos and political commissar Kyriakos Stefopoulos, railway, nicknamed Dimitris Perros. In Band was named "King Fereos", the name that is the great visionary of Balkan Federation. For some time the company was called "Zahariades". However, many Greeks remained in the units which were fighting and not metatachthisan the Greek Battalion.

The Greek company, part of the 15th International Brigade, participated in the battle of Brounet where was the impact force and captured the small town Vilianoueva-de-la-Kaniani after three weeks battle. Losses brigade was huge, as lost almost half agonists. The losses of the Greeks has not been possible to verify, but if we take into account generally those of the brigade, should be enough. Among the killed is the Cypriot Achilles Kanaris, then 35 years old and Chiotis Dimitris Rapitis, which according to the comrade Kostas Remote fell fighting against the machine gun, covering the retreat of the unit's fighters.

Another battle of the Greek battalion was that in Belsit, where the objective was the capture of Zaragoza, who held the fascists. The attack began on August 24 with the first target Belsit, a small but well-fortified city. In one of the counterattacks of the fascists, the Dimitrov Battalion and especially the Greek company suffered panolethria.Sti battle and killed the commander of the battalion Pantelias, like the political commissar Stefopoulos, who left their lives on the machine guns, surrounded by soldiers Franko.Dioikitis the Band then took the deputy Deliyiannis who those fighters were standing, continued battles with selfless heroism "defending democracy not only in Spain, but in the belief that fighting defending democracy throughout the world, but also the homeland them. "After fierce fighting, the Belsit occupied permanently on 8 September.

The Greek company also participated in the capture of Teruel region in December 1937. In fact, one of the first who entered the city of Teruel was the Greek officer tankistas Minas Thomaidis, from Pontus. In early March 1938, the fascists after fierce aerial bombing (grant Nazi fascists), attacked the front of Aragon. Democratic troops, fatigued by constant battles without weaponry anymore, began to subside. The 15th International Brigade was also the last fascist unit left drafted the ruined city with large, but losses. At least 11 Cypriots were killed, while two Greek fighters were captured and executed on the spot because, according drapetefsantes refused to shout "hurray General Franco" .In perichochi of Kantesas, Greeks killed exceeds 20 while the wounded are dozens.

In honor of the Greek fighters of the International Brigades, was an event in Barcelona, where pirchan part not only Hellenes fascists, who were there, injured most, but too many sailors who had come to the port with supplies for the Republican Spain. The controller Spaniard in profonisi said inter alia:
"... The person you see the vibrant democratic antifascist Greece struggling against our common enemy, fascism, democracy, independence and prosperity of our people ..."

withdrawal

"... The farewell to the heroes of the International Brigades, despite the festive atmosphere which was was cold and melancholic. Heart filled bitterness seeing those heroes to spend the big "aveniada" Barcelona had organized the popular farewell. We thought our fate and the fate of these people, many could not return to their countries because there existed fascism. It was scarred heroes with their participation in the war in Spain, the diplomacy of non-intervention was putting them under suspicion as lepers, persecuted them, surrendered to police insanity, were closed in special camps surrendering them eventually to Hitler and Mussolini "
(see. "Memoirs of Pasionaria" Dawn, 5/25/63)

And it was really enough those who had to go. And between them, the Greeks, who stayed alive. The exceptions were the Greeks of America and England who came back there. The others stayed in Spain until the end and passed on French territory after the collapse, after they gave together with Spanish fascists in recent fighting in Catalonia, thus enabling hundreds of thousands gynaikopeda and wounded to cross the border.

Since the data was achieved to gather, the known names of the Greeks who were killed in the Spanish civil war is 53, of which two missing. It seems, however, exceed 100. The Greek fascists dead are pioneers in the hundreds of thousands of fighters who then killed in the mountains, in the cities and squads battling the local and international fascism.

Source: M.Palaiologopoulou, Greek fascists volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, Athens 1979

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CHARLEMAGNE 4
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades?

#24

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 10 Dec 2014, 10:47

Photos of Greek-American volunteers.
FROM : http://www.ispania.gr/arthra/istoria/14 ... s-emfylios


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CHARLEMAGNE 4
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades?

#25

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 10 Dec 2014, 10:49

A team of Greek volunteers, perhaps in Albacete, in a military exercise break. In the far right (the jacket loose in the back) distinguished Nick Vavoudis (1906-1951), party member of the Communist Party. Radio operator in the illegal party organizations in the post-civil war Athens, located by the Safety in November 1951 in the crypt with their radios and committed suicide to avoid capture.
FROM : http://tvxs.gr/news/taksidia-sto-xrono/ ... ko-emfylio


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CHARLEMAGNE 4
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades?

#26

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 10 Dec 2014, 10:54

A book about the Greek volunteers.

''GREEKS ANTIFASISTES Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)''
Author : PALAIOLOGOPOULOS DIMITRIS

FROM : http://www.politeianet.gr/books/palaiol ... 939-113437


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Dr Eisvogel
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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades?

#27

Post by Dr Eisvogel » 30 Apr 2018, 19:19

bools wrote:Does anyone know of any Greeks, Macedonians or Albanians in the IB? There are several mentions of them in the Dimitrovs and Tchapaievs but I can find no names or numbers (except for Petro Marko the Macedonian author). Were there any Jewish or Muslim volunteers from these lands? Did any of these return to join/form resistance groups in WWII? Grateful for any advice.
Regards B.
Hi bools,

you can check this list.
http://yuinterbrigade.net/spisak-spanskih-boraca/

ANDREEV IVAN, born 1910
ARSOVSKI VLADIMIR BLAŽO, born 1910
ATKO BORIS, born 1904

I've found three for sure just under letter A. There might be more of them under the letter A, but these three were born in Macedonia and there is no doubt as to their identity.

Best regards,
Eisvogel

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Re: Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians in International Brigades

#28

Post by Dr Eisvogel » 30 Apr 2018, 19:24

noitlo wrote:This is the list of Albanian Vulnetari
Asim Vokshi komandat i batalionit "Garibaldi"
Daut Muço(Podgorani)
Dhimitër Kosta
Emrush Myftari
Faik Dardha
Hulusi Spahiu
Ibrahim Kurani
Iljaz Pashaj
Justina Shkupi
Kostë Kolombo
Mane Nishova
Mehmet Shehu
Musa Kame (Fratari)
Petro Marko
Qamil Sherifi
Ramiz Varvarica
Sabri Lumani kryeredaktor i revistës Vullnetari i Lirisë Spanjë, 1937
Skënder Luarasi
Stefan Duni
Stivens Thanasi
Shaban Basha
Teni Konomi
Thimio Gogozoto
Urfi Agolli
Veli Deda
Xhafer Miraka
Xhelal Abaz Bajrami (Çami)
Xhemal Kada
Ymer Puka
Zef Hoti
Zef Prela
Zihni Muço
As far as I can determine 11 of them had Christian background and 21 had Muslim background.

Dritan
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Re:

#29

Post by Dritan » 14 Apr 2021, 14:07

Balrog wrote:
31 May 2007, 05:38
Mehmet Shehu, an Albanian, fought in the International Brigades. He was a Muslim volunteer. He was a member of the Garibaldi Brigade. He served as a combat officer.

Before the SCW he had been a cadet at an Italian military academy , but was expelled when his involvement in Communist activities was discovered.

He was a hardcore Stalinist. He had a reputation for cruelty on and off the battlefield.. He escaped into France at the end of the Spanish Civil War. Eventually he ended up back in Albania and a Communist commander fighting against the Italians and the Germans. He had an excellent combat record as a guerilla fighter. He came into conflict with three British operatives air dropped into Albania during ww2, but that is a different story...

He survived the war and became Enver Hoxha's right hand man for several decades. In the early 1980's he was involved in a power struggle with Hoxha over succession. He died in 1981. Some say he committed suicide and others say he was murdered. I read once that he was shot dead at a cabinet meeting.
He escaped to France and meet with my cousin Xhelal Abaz Mezani. Xhelal Abaz Mezani he was my dads uncle, both Mehmet Shehu and my cousin participated in the Spanish civil war and became good “friends”.
At the time Xhelal escaped from the Greek shovinist from a place called Grigohori Chameria which it was in south Albania today belongs to Greece and called from Greeks North Epirus.

(Chameria it was annexed to Greece in the later half of 1912, when the Ottoman Empire was retreating from a large part of the Balkan Peninsula as a result of the Empire’s defeat in the First Balkan War. This was also the period when Albanian independence was declared. conflict arose as a result of the delineation of the border between Greece and Albania at the end of the Balkan Wars. In 1912 the London Ambassador's Conference allotted the Chameria region to Greece, so today only seven Cham villages, centred on the village of Konispol, are in Albania itself. There were three distinct phases of emigration of the Cham population from northern Greece. The first occurred during the Balkan Wars 1912-1914, the second following the signing of the Turkish-Greek Convention at Lausanne in January 1923, and the third
The Cham Issue - Albanian National & Property Claims in Greece
occurred at the end of the Second World War)

He escaped Greece and he was living in Paris. He was married there and he had two children and meet with Mehmet in Spanish civil war at Brigade Garibaldi. He looked after Mehmet Shehu which was injured. Both shared with each other communist views.
Eventually Mehmet ended up back in Albania and a Communist commander fighting against the Italians and the Germans. He had an excellent combat record as a guerilla fighter.
He survived the war and became Enver Hoxha's right hand man. Round the 1950s my cousin Xhelal join the Paris communist party.
At the time he was ordered from Mehmet Shehu to kill some other Albanian member from the communist party with a last name Xhelo.
Xhelal Abaz Bajrami called in Spanish civil war as Çami. He succeeded in his mission to kill one communist traitor, after he assasinated Xhelo he was wanted from France police. One the run the only save place for him was to escape and go in Albania.

Eventually he went back to Albania and meet Mehmet Shehu and he went to vizit his sister Naile (she was my dads mother) and my dad. He was interned by Mehmet in Lushnja under the pretext of hiding.
The Spanish Civil War had left him with some old wounds and tuberculosis. After a while, Xhelal ends up in a military hospital in Tirana. From there he writes to my dad and asked meeting him as soon as possible.
Dad went to meet him but his body was never to be found. He later learned that he had been poisoned. In search of Xhelal in one of the communist offices in Tirana, my father had been threatened not to be searching for his uncle anymore because he would end up killed as well.
What happened to Xhelal Mezan Bajrami even today is unknown. Maybe he was poisoned from Albanian communist Party....(maybe Mehmet Shehu).
Anyone who has any more information related to my dads uncle Xhelal Mezan Bajrami (Çami) please write to me at my email:[email protected]

Dritan
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Re: Re:

#30

Post by Dritan » 16 Apr 2021, 07:20

Dritan wrote:
14 Apr 2021, 14:07
Balrog wrote:
31 May 2007, 05:38
Mehmet Shehu, an Albanian, fought in the International Brigades. He was a Muslim volunteer. He was a member of the Garibaldi Brigade. He served as a combat officer.

Before the SCW he had been a cadet at an Italian military academy , but was expelled when his involvement in Communist activities was discovered.

He was a hardcore Stalinist. He had a reputation for cruelty on and off the battlefield.. He escaped into France at the end of the Spanish Civil War. Eventually he ended up back in Albania and a Communist commander fighting against the Italians and the Germans. He had an excellent combat record as a guerilla fighter. He came into conflict with three British operatives air dropped into Albania during ww2, but that is a different story...

He survived the war and became Enver Hoxha's right hand man for several decades. In the early 1980's he was involved in a power struggle with Hoxha over succession. He died in 1981. Some say he committed suicide and others say he was murdered. I read once that he was shot dead at a cabinet meeting.
He escaped to France seriously injured and he stay with my cousin Xhelal for 72 days. Xhelal Abaz Mezani he was my dads uncle, both Mehmet Shehu and my cousin participated in the Spanish civil war and became good “friends”.
Xhelal escaped from the Greece from a place called Grigohori Chameria which it was in south Albania today belongs to Greece and called from Greeks North Epirus and he went to Tirana Albania. There he meet Mehmet Shehu and both they join a cadet at an Italian military academy , but they were expelled when they involvement in Communist activities was discovered.

(Chameria it was annexed to Greece in the later half of 1912, when the Ottoman Empire was retreating from a large part of the Balkan Peninsula as a result of the Empire’s defeat in the First Balkan War. This was also the period when Albanian independence was declared. conflict arose as a result of the delineation of the border between Greece and Albania at the end of the Balkan Wars. In 1912 the London Ambassador's Conference allotted the Chameria region to Greece, so today only seven Cham villages, centred on the village of Konispol, are in Albania itself. There were three distinct phases of emigration of the Cham population from northern Greece. The first occurred during the Balkan Wars 1912-1914, the second following the signing of the Turkish-Greek Convention at Lausanne in January 1923, and the third
The Cham Issue - Albanian National & Property Claims in Greece
occurred at the end of the Second World War)

He escaped Albania and he was living in Paris. He was married there and he had two children and meet with Mehmet again in Spanish civil war at Brigade Garibaldi. Xhelal escaped the was and he went back to France.
He looked after Mehmet Shehu which was injured.They strengthened they friendship and shared with each other communist views.
Eventually Mehmet ended up back in Albania and a Communist commander fighting against the Italians and the Germans. He had an excellent combat record as a guerilla fighter. Round this time Mehmet and Xhelal they keep strong relationship with each other.

Mehmet survived the war and became Enver Hoxha's right hand man. Round the 1950s my cousin Xhelal join the Paris communist party.
At the time he was ordered from Mehmet Shehu to kill some other Albanian member from the communist party with a last name Xhelo.
Xhelal Abaz Bajrami called in Spanish civil war as Çami. He succeeded in his mission to kill the communist traitor, after he assasinated a Albanian traitor with the last name Xhelo he was wanted from France police. While on the run the only save place for him was to escape and go back in Albania.
Eventually he went back to Albania and meet Mehmet Shehu and he went to vizit his sister Naile (she was my dads mother) and my dad. He was interned by Mehmet in Lushnja under the pretext of hiding.
The Spanish Civil War had left him with some old wounds and tuberculosis. After a while, Xhelal some how ends up in a military hospital in Tirana. From there he writes to my dad and he ask my to come and see him as soon as possible.
Dad went to meet him but he was late. Desperate that he came late insisted on finding his grave. He was told his uncle was dead already.
After my dad try to find the grave his body was never to be found. He later learned that he had been poisoned. In search of Xhelal in one of the communist offices in Tirana, my father had been threatened not to be searching for his uncle anymore because he would end up killed as well.
What happened to Xhelal Mezan Bajrami even today is unknown. Maybe he was poisoned from Albanian communist Party....(maybe Mehmet Shehu).
Anyone who has any more information related to my dads uncle Xhelal Mezan Bajrami (Çami) please write to me at my email:[email protected]

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