The Spanish Civil War
After Mexico, Vidali and Modotti left for Spain during the Spanish Civil War, where Vidali headed the anti-Trotskyist faction of the International Brigades known as the 5th Regiment (Quinto Regimiento). He is known to have participated in the assassinations of many suspected anti-Stalinists, in collaboration with GPU agent Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich. In Republican Spain, many of the "accidental deaths" of fellow Republicans, especially those of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification and probably the "disappearance" of their leader Andreu Nin were said to have been carried out under his direction. As a result, Vidali was greatly feared. Vidali, identified as "Carlos Contreras, one of the first Commanders of the 5th Regiment " was shown addressing an assembly of military personnel in the 1937 pro-Republican propaganda film The Spanish Earth.
Read more about this topic: Vittorio Vidali
Famous quotes containing the words spanish civil war, civil war, spanish, civil and/or war:
“Stiller ... took part in the Spanish Civil War ... It is not clear what impelled him to this military gesture. Probably many factors were combined—a rather romantic Communism, such as was common among bourgeois intellectuals at that time.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“A war between Europeans is a civil war.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“They are a curious mixture of Spanish tradition, American imitation, and insular limitation. This explains why they never catch on to themselves.”
—Helen Lawrenson (1904–1982)
“When civil fury first grew high,
And men fell out, they knew not why;
When hard words, jealousies, and fears,
Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk;”
—Samuel Butler (1612–1680)
“You say it is the good cause that hallows even war? I say unto you: it is the good war that hallows any cause.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)