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Historical records matching Irving Rifkin, executed during the Spanish Civil War
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About Irving Rifkin, executed during the Spanish Civil War
- Irving was a pre-medical student in New York. Politically, he was a Communist; he joined the Communist Party in 1935. He decided to go to Spain and fight against the Fascists. Irving was a soldier in Company C [Company 3], Lincoln-Washington Battalion, Fifteenth Brigade. On 4 April 1938, as a warning to foreigners who came to Spain to fight against the Fascists, Generalissimo Francisco Franco announced that any foreign volunteer who was taken prisoner would be shot.
- Irving was also a trained rifleman. Either in high school or at New York University, Irving was a member of the Rifle Team. Thus, before he went to Spain, Irving knew how to load, adjust the rear sight of, aim, and fire a bolt-action rifle.
- From the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, posted at http://www.alba-valb.org/volunteers/irving-rifkin: "Rifkin, Irving J.. b. March 4, 1917, Brooklyn, New York, Jewish. Attended the City College of New York, ROTC 1935-37, Single, Student, CP 1936. Received passport# 539794 on May 25, 1938 which listed his address as 3916 Laurel Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Sailed July 6, 1938 aboard the Queen Mary. Arrived in Spain on July 16, 1938. Served with the XV BDE, Lincoln-Washington BN, Co. 3, rank Soldado. Believed captured and executed on September 7, 1938 in the Sierra Caballs. USDDA includes sworn statement by Gerald Cook, William G. Wheeler and Herman Klein: “We, the undersigned, certify that the men named below were members of the third company of the Lincoln Battalion in Spain and were captured by the Franco forces on the 7th day of September, 1938, on the sector of Corbera. We know these facts to be true as we witnessed the entire affair, having been members of the same unit and barely escaping ourselves after having been completely surrounded. These men are: Irving Rifkin, James Pearce, Jack Arnold, Pat Garafalo, Wilbur Wheeler, Thomas Hardy, Sam Grossner, William Miller, Leonard Holtzclaw.” Rifkin’s family was not aware that he was going to Spain. They learned that he was in Spain after receiving a letter dated July 14, 1938. His last letter to his family was dated Aug 24, 1938."
- From the Internet article "A Post Card From the Spanish Civil War" (posted at http://www.constantinereport.com/post-card-spanish-civil-war/), it was noted that: "When some 40 members of the Lincoln-Washington Battalion, 14 of them American, were taken prisoner in September, Nationalist troops marched them to the rear. When an officer heard men talking English, he stopped the column, separated out the Americans, and ordered them machine-gunned...One of those machine-gunned men could well have been Irving Rifkin. His body, as well as those of his comrades, would have been buried in an unmarked grave by peasants who were forced at gunpoint by Nacionales to perform this grim task. It is doubtful whether Rifkin’s remains will ever be recovered and identified."
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Irving Rifkin, executed during the Spanish Civil War's Timeline
| 1917 |
March 4, 1917
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Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, United States
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| 1938 |
September 7, 1938
Age 21
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near Corbera, Sierra Caballs Mountains, Catalonia, Spain
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