Description

Helmut Kirschey was there himself. He was born in 1913 in Wuppertal, Germany, grew up through the famine and hyperinflation of the interwar period, and witnessed the rise of Nazism. In 1931, he joined the anarcho-syndicalist movement FAUD. The struggle against Nazism intensified, and in 1933 he was forced to flee. After a spell in Holland, he fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War, was imprisoned by the communists and forced to flee on to Sweden. Here he continued to work against Nazism and for democracy, and experienced the downside of the ‘people’s home’ project, with harassment by the authorities and the registration of political views. Richard Jändel, who has recorded Helmut’s memories, has previously published a book about Swedish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War: Kämpande solidaritet.