George Orwell (taken from Wikipedia)
Did you know that the complete works of George Orwell are now online and freely available? I only discovered this yesterday, and I was instantly drawn to a page from Homage to Catalonia, the story of his time fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Born as Eric Arthur Blair but known around the world by his pseudonym, he went off to Spain in 1936 along with many other idealist young men from around the world to fight the rise of fascism. The book tells of his adventures and traumas during his two years in Spain.
Why my interest in this book, and one page in particular? I was fortunate to meet one of the characters from this book in 1985 in Spain, and he was happy to share his recollections of that time with me. He was by then an old man, but even in my short encounters with him I could easily fit him into the picture painted of him by Orwell 50 years earlier.
“The company we were relieving were getting their kits together. They had been
three months in the line; their uniforms were caked with mud, their boots
falling to pieces, their faces mostly bearded. The captain commanding the
position, Levinski by name, but known to everyone as Benjamin, and by birth a
Polish Jew, but speaking French as his native language, crawled out of his
dug-out and greeted us. He was a short youth of about twenty-five, with stiff
black hair and a pale eager face which at this period of the war was always very
dirty. A few stray bullets were cracking high overhead….. I peered cautiously through a loophole, trying to find the Fascist trench. ‘Where are the enemy?’ Benjamin waved his hand expansively. ‘Over zere.’ (Benjamin spoke English– terrible English.) “
You can read the rest of the chapter here.
So how did I get to meet him? As a teenager I had travelled down to Sitges, a holiday resort just south of Barcelona, to visit my uncle and aunt who had retired there. My uncle was a dominant and influential man, and even in retirement had quickly become a central figure in the local ex-pat community. He introduced me to many foreigners in Sitges, mostly British and some from elsewhere; one of these friends was Benjamin.
When he mentioned that he was fluent in 18 languages I was intrigued to meet him, and spent some time sitting in the plaza during the siesta periods listening to his stories. He was happy for an audience, and although he didn’t dwell solely on his distant military past he was very eager to dish out advice on life to a naive young 16 year old. He was very opinionated and as a head-strong man he often clashed with my uncle. I think they were two old men who needed to argue with one another to keep themselves mentally active.
One thing that Benjamin said to me stuck in my mind, and although it’s far from original it was the first time I had heard it. He said “Are you a communist? You should be a communist. If you’re under 25 and you’re not a communist, you’ve got no heart. If you’re still a communist when you’re over 25 you’ve got no head.” I never appreciated the link between his advice and his own bitter experiences, but still wonder now how much his views were shaped by his time in the Civil War, and how much by the changes that took place in the world in subsequent years.
A chance encounter, but since my meeting with Benjamin in that Spanish summer I always remember him when I hear the name of George Orwell.
It is always interesting to have a talk with an old person. Its a talk which links us to the past. My father died when he was 95y old and our talks were a great resource for me to understand the past.
Thanks Andreas. It’s great to grab those moments where we can gain that little insight into another time. I hope you managed to record some of the stories your father shared with you.
You’ve just reminded me that I specialised on the subject of the Republican Plight during the Spanish Civil War for my final exams in History. There was quite a few Irish in the contingent. I was delighted to discover a distant relation who fought bravely too!