Student Submissions
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The Life of Thomas Page, By Laila Abouhasswa
Laila Abouhasswa HONS 2011J, Section 01 Professor Hernandez-Ojeda 18 December 2020 Personal Statement Prior to taking this class, I had no background knowledge on the Spanish Civil War. I was aware of fascism in Italy and Germany but I never knew that it had occurred in Spain as well. Although I was not aware of this war, as I learned about it I found several similarities between the activism involved in the Black Lives Matter movement and the activism of the volunteers in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. I have been very involved in the Black Lives Matter movement and I was able to draw similarities between my own experiences supporting…
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Volunteer Milton Morris White by Rose Molina Gonzalez
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Volunteer Leonard Bertram Levenson – Elisheva Adler
Elisheva Adler Professor Maria Hernandez-Ojeda HONS 2011J – Spanish Civil War in Literature and Film 17 December 2020 Leonard Bertram Levenson: “Lenny” Personal Statement This semester, I have had the privilege of taking a course about the Spanish Civil War, taught by Professor Hernández-Ojeda. Prior to taking this course, I had no knowledge about the Spanish Civil War. This semester I have learned about the historical background that led up to the Spanish Civil War and the valiant efforts of the international brigade volunteers to support the Republic and fight the battle against fascism. I have had the honor this semester, to conduct research and delve even further into the…
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Volunteer Max Shufer by Student Adriana Chavez
Adriana Chavez María Hernández-Ojeda Final Essay HONS 211J –1 Volunteer Max Shufer by Student Adriana Chavez Personal Statement The American public school system does a pitiful job teaching us world history, nor does American culture encourage us to keep up with foreign affairs. I went into this class expecting to learn about Spain, not the US, and was excited to do so. However, I was flabbergasted by the connections I found between the Spanish Civil War and the current rise of fascism in the US. Additionally, though I wasn’t shocked to learn of my country’s non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War, I was surprised and proud to hear about the large number of Americans who bravely…
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The Life of Steve Nelson, by Shane Harilall
Shane Harilall Professor Maria Hernandez-Ojeda HONS 2011J – Spanish Civil War in Literature and Film 18 December 2020 Personal Statement I initially elected to partake in this class due to a total lack of knowledge concerning the Spanish Civil War. As far as I was concerned, the Spanish Civil War was another pointless conflict with little to no meaning. I cannot believe how wrong I was. I have since come to understand the significance of the Good Fight, and as such am remorseful for my initial feelings on the matter. However, I am also grateful for the experience, as I now understand the personal sacrifices and emotional resilience of the…
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Volunteer Milton Morris White by Rose Molina Gonzalez
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Virginia Malbin
Sylvia Welch THHP 2011J Hunter College-CUNY Prof. Hernandez-Ojeda Virginia Malbin Personal Statement In the fall semester of 2020, I enrolled in a course on the Spanish Civil War. Prior to this class, I didn’t know anything about this period of history. Throughout the semester, our class engaged with riveting and emotional works of art, literature, and film that taught us about this captivating period of time. We learned about the struggles against fascism, nationalist and republican propaganda, and how the war had enormous effects that rippled through individual lives, communities, and countries. As a cumulative final project we were assigned to study the life of an Abraham Lincoln Brigade volunteer. …
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Volunteer Milton Morris White by Rose Molina Gonzalez
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Volunteer Vincent Lossowski by Student Mei Meadow
Mei Meadow HONS 2011J Final Essay Professor Maria Hernández-Ojeda Vincent Lossowski Personal Statement While researching the life and involvement of Vincent Lossowski in the Spanish Civil War, I initially came upon several interesting facts about his numerous military services and affiliation with the Communist Party online; however, it was only when I interviewed Paul Lossowski, Vincent Lossowski’s son, and read more personal artifacts such as letters between him and his mother and wife during his time in Spain that I achieved a better understanding of who Vincent Lossowski was. More formal correspondences and newspaper clippings from after the war documented the harassment by the U.S. government that Lossowski experienced for…
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Milton Wolff
Rafid Amin HONS 2011J Hunter College-CUNY Professor Hernández-Ojeda Milton Wolff Personal Statement Milton Wolff first caught my eye when I watched the documentary The Good Fight (1984) with classmates in our Spanish Civil War in Literature, Film and Art course, led by Professor Maria Hernandez-Ojeda. We watched the documentary fairly early into the semester and so, I did not know much about the Spanish Civil War yet. At first, I was interested and awed by the fact that we were watching a documentary involving veterans from a war that happened almost eighty years ago. Milton Wolff, as well as several other volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades, made an…
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Abraham Osheroff
Cassidy Kristal-Cohen HONS2011j Hunter College-CUNY Prof. Hernandez-Ojeda Abraham Osheroff: A life of activism and exuberance Personal Statement In my studies of the Spanish Civil War, I frequently found myself making comparisons to what had occurred thirty years later in Nicaragua, during the Sandinista era. The similarities between the two events are striking, and numerous. When I discovered that Abraham Osheroff had fought in the Spanish Civil War during the 1930s, as well as traveled to Nicaragua to build homes during the 1980s— I knew that I wanted to study the progression of his life. Primarily relying on resources from the Tamiment Library archive at NYU, as well…
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John Gates: An American Communist
Sylvia Scahill Hons 2011J Hunter College-CUNY Professor María Hernández-Ojeda John Gates: An American Communist There are many ways to study and narrate history. Some people see the world as a succession of wars or great leaders, some see it through cultural and social evolution, some say narrative histories are dangerous and only historical materialism is the way. There are merits to all of these methods, depending on your aims. The story I am going to tell here is of one man: John Gates, born in Manhattan in 1913. Gates was to become a soldier in the Spanish Civil War, and a prominent leader of the American Communist Party until split…
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Archie Brown
Joshwald Martinez HONS 2011J Final Essay Professor Hernández-Ojeda Archie Brown Personal Statement It was quite daunting to begin writing this paper. A voice of fear told me that I had better make this perfect. Having studied the Spanish Civil War this semester, I have come to realize that the way one tells a story impacts memory in long-lasting ways. Through the device of emplotment, the historian—the storyteller—assumes the role of a narrative architect whom the reader implicitly trusts to build the tale with the foundational bricks of chronicles. I urge the reader to experience this paper through the critical lens of metahistory and challenge my choice of narrative building blocks,…
