Hemingway

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Crowd

Heil Hitler! -

Narrator

Ernest Hemingway understood the dangers of fascism, and believed Adolf Hitler would one day launch a European war of conquest. But as a disenchanted survivor of the war that had been supposed to end all wars, he told Esquire readers, "Americans should take no part in it. "Of the hell broth that is brewing in Europe, "we have no need to drink," he wrote. "We were fools to be sucked in once on a European war, "and we should never be sucked in again." (somber music) (cannons blasting) But what was happening in his beloved Spain was beginning to change his mind. It was now being torn apart by a civil war. (melancholy music) Early in 1936, reactionary elements of the army, eventually led by a fascist general named Francisco Franco, and supported by wealthy industrialists, great landowners, and the Catholic Church, joined forced to try to overthrow the duly elected Socialist government. (crowd yelling) Hitler provided Franco and his rebels with bombers and fighter planes, (bombs blasting) and German pilots to fly them. Their goal was to terrorize the civilian population. The Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, dispatched tanks and nearly 80,000 troops. (crowd yelling) (gunshots blasting) Within weeks, Franco's forces had seized 1/3 of the country from those faithful to the government, the loyalists. The loyalists' only ally was Soviet Premier, Joseph Stalin, who was eager to be seen as the leader of the European Left. He called upon Communists from around the world to rally volunteer brigades. Between 30 and 40,000 men from more than 50 countries would answer the call, including some 2800 Americans, who called their outfit The Abraham Lincoln Brigade. (melancholy music) Hemingway was certain that Spain was the place where fascism had to be stopped. He said to a friend in Key West, "I've got this great house, and I've got this boat, "but they all really come from Pauline, "and except for that, I really don't have anything." So in order to have something new to write, he had to have something new to live. At this juncture in his life, Hemingway is looking desperately for this fresh start, and he thinks he will find it in Spain. (melancholy music) -

Narrator

"For a long time," Hemingway wrote, "me and my conscience both have known "I have to go to Spain." (somber music) (crowd yelling)