Fighters Across Frontiers : Transnational Resistance in Europe, 1936–48

"This landmark book, the product of years of research by a team of two dozen historians, reveals that resistance to occupation by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during the Second World War was not narrowly delineated by country but startlingly international. Tens of thousands of fighters across Europe resisted 'transnationally', travelling to join networks far from their homes. These 'foreigners' were often communists and Jews who were already being persecuted and on the move. Others were expatriate business people, escaped POWs, forced labourers or deserters. Their experiences would prove personally transformative and greatly affected the course of the conflict. From the International Brigades in Spain to the onset of the Cold War and the foundation of the state of Israel, they played a significant part in a period of upheaval and change during the long Second World War" Contents 6 Plates 8 Maps 10 Contributors 11 Abbreviations 15 Chronology of events 18 Acknowledgements 23 Introduction 26 1 ‘For your freedom and ours!’: transnational experiences in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39 37 2 The ‘Spanish matrix’: transnational catalyst of Europe’s anti-Nazi resistance 56 3 Camps as crucibles of transnational resistance 74 4 From regular armies to irregular resistance (and back) 95 5 Inherently transnational: escape lines 115 6 Transnational perspectives on Jews in the resistance 134 7 SOE and transnational resistance 157 8 Transnational guerrillas in the ‘shatter zones’ of the Balkans and Eastern Front 180 9 Transnational uprisings: Warsaw, Paris, Slovakia 205 10 Afterlives and memories 239 Conclusion 265 Notes 282 Bibliography 335 Index 368