Las mamas belgas

摘要

Las Mamas Belgas is the fascinating story of a group of young nurses, socialist and communist Belgians (mostly unprofessional, post-World War I Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe) and Dutch (professionals), taking off to Spain during the Civil War. Some of them actually wanted to fight in the International Brigades, made famous by Orwell's Homage to Catalonia~1, but they ended up in a little town near Valencia in a large, well-equipped military hospital provided by the Socialist International, taking care of sick and wounded soldiers and refugees. They did, as Vera Brittain said in her Testament of Youth~2, 'the next best thing'. After they returned to Belgium and the Netherlands - in some cases leaving behind loved ones who had fallen fighting Franco - some of them joined the (often communist) resistance against Hitler. A couple of them did not survive the Holocaust. And at least one made a remarkable switch and joined the Nazi ranks in spite of having been witness to the fascist atrocities in Spain.