Undigging the Past: The Lost Memory of Interpreters at the Battle for Málaga 1936-1937.

Abstract

The fall of Málaga in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 was one of the first severe defeats of the Loyalist government. While the bombing of Guernica was immortalized by Picasso’s iconic painting, the flight, in February 1937, of nearly 300,000 civilians heading east on the road from Málaga to Almería to avoid being caught between the advance of Moroccan regular troops and the attack of fascist aircrafts and warships has, for decades, remained repressed, silenced, or unremembered. Drawing on (un)published biographical accounts of Soviet military interpreters Mariya Levina and Elisaveta Parshina, and of Spanish civil interpreter and political activist Luis Abollado Vargas, in this paper we explore their perfomance as linguists and firsthand witnesses in the Battle for Málaga (July 1936-February 1937), with special reference to their ideological and professional profiles; the fulfillment of their duties on several battlefronts; and their assistance to withdrawing Republican military units and terrified civilians.