The Oxford International Brigade Memorial Committee keeps alive the memory and spirit of the men and women from Oxfordshire who volunteered to defend democracy and fight fascism in Spain from 1936 to 1939

Photo Gallery

To read the full story of the campaign to erect the Oxford memorial please follow this link.

Spring 2019 at the Oxford Memorial

Click here for pictures of the unveiling of the Oxford Memorial

Pictures from the unveiling of the Oxford Memorial on Saturday 10th June 2017

Top:  The Oxford Memorial - front face;  
Centre: The Oxford Committee - Chris Farman, Charlie Carter, Chris Davies, David Chanter, Ed Ayres, John Haywood, Colin Carritt
Bottom: The plaque - rear face


Left to Right and top to bottom:
Richard Baxell, Chairman of the International Brigade Memorial Trust
Robert Wilkinson, Representative ffrom the Oxford District Trades Council
Carmen Negrin, Grand-daughter of the last Prime Minister of Republican Spain 1939
Neil Gore, Writer and actor reading the poem "The Volunteer" by Cecil Day-Lewis
Cllr Christine Simm, Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford


Top left:  Cllr Christine Simm, Deputy Lord Mayor, unveils the memorial
top right:  Carmen Negrin, grand-daughter of the last Prime Minister of Republican Spain 1939, lays the wreath on behalf of the IBMT
Bottom:  The gathered supporters celebrate


On the evening before the memorial was unveiled a public meeting was held at The Friends Meeting House in St Giles Oxford where speakers included:- 
Richard Baxell, Chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, Research Associate at LSE and author of the acclaimed book on the British volunteers of the International Brigade "Unlikely Warriors"; 
David Boyd Haycock, writer and art historian (substituting for Prof Paul Preston who was indisposed) and whose work includes "I Am Spain: The Spanish Civil War and the Men and Women who went to Fight Fascism"; 
Carmen Negrin, grand-daughter of the last Prime Minister of Republican Spain in 1939; and 
Prof. Valentine Cunningham, Emeritus Professor of English at Corpus Christi, Oxford and editor of "The Penguin Book of Spanish Civil War Verse"

On the evening of the unveiling an evening of music and dance was held at the west Oxford Community centre in Botley Road, Oxford, with:- 
- friends of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, folk duo Na-Mara, 
- a reading of La Pasionaria's famous speech of farewell to the International Brigades in Barcelona in September 1938, 
- Spanish Flamenco dancers Camino Del Flamenco and 
- Oxford's own Cuban big band, Ran Kan Kan.

The New Hull Memorial

 

Hull volunteers honoured

Family members (left) gather around the new memorial to the 10 International Brigade volunteers from Hull following its unveiling on 16 March 2019.

Though there is already a plaque inside the city’s Guildhall, the families and the IBMT-affiliated Hull International Brigades Memorial Group felt that a more substantial monument should be raised. They persuaded the city council to provide a site next to the Guildhall and raised the funds, mainly from local trade unions.

Created by sculptor Dan Jones, the memorial consists of a bronze representation of the ‘Popular Front’ clenched fist salute around the three-pointed star of the International Brigades. It sits on a plinth of Spanish marble, on which are inscribed the words ‘¡No pasarán!’ and ‘Peace, Democracy, Freedom’. The base also features the names of the local volunteers, including four who died in Spain.

The structure is made up from Crema Marfil Alba, a type of marble found in the Basque region of Spain, and Cor-ten Steel manufactured in Catalonia reflects the art and symbolism the volunteers would have experienced whilst fighting the war.

 

Andy Stankard, Hull IBMT Steering Group Member, added: “Four of the volunteers were killed in Spain in battle and their bodies were never recovered. They are a part of Hull that remains in Catalonia and this memorial from Catalonia, where they fought, is a part of Spain that now remains in Hull.”

Attended by more than 200 people, the unveiling was undertaken by Steve Hedley, Assistant General Secretary of RMT, who spoke about how the International Brigades were an inspiration to all those confronting the continuing threat of fascism

Pictures from the 1st Annual commemoration of the Oxford Memorial, 28th April 2018

A wet, soggy and cold celebration for our first anniversary of the Oxford Memorial on 28th April 2018.







Addressing the gathering:
Clockwise from above left: 
Helen Graham, Professor of Modern History at Royal Holloway College and a Patron of the IBMT

Writer James Atlee, author of Guernica:P  Painting the End of the World

Ciaran Walsh of Radical Walking Tours of Oxford sending us on our way re-radicalised!

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE MEMORIAL TRUST GO TO 
http://www.international-brigades.org.uk/