Republicans and Nationalists

MICHAEL ECONOMIDES

Cypriot communist served with British Battalion, 15th International Brigade in Spain, 12/1936-12/1938

RENZO LODOLI

Italian fascist, he joined the Littoral Division to fight in Spain alongside the nationals. He arrived in 1937 and remained until the death of his mother in August 1938 forced him to return. At the beginning of the Second World War, gets ready again in the Italian Army. In 1946 he returned to civilian life, worked as an engineer and founded the Italian Social Movement, a far-right party.

THEO FRANCOS

A French communist (though he was born in Valladolid, Spain) in the international brigades during the war. Three times he was taken prisoner; three times he escaped. Francos’ experience as both a political fighter and activist began when he was just 14, when he joined the French Communist Youth party and began to harbor a passion for international affairs. In the midst of the Civil War in 1936 he became a political commissary in the Paris Comune, and joined the international brigades to help fight in Madrid, Guadalajara, and Toledo, among other places.