Stowarzyszenie Ochotnicy Wolności

Projects

Current projects and activities carried out by the Association

Anniversary celebrations

Since 2016 (initially as the initiative 'Hands off Dąbrowski Brigade Street', later as the Volunteers of Freedom Association) we have been organising annual celebrations to commemorate the Dąbrowski Brigade members on the anniversary of the outbreak of The Spanish Civil War.

The main part of the events are the ceremonies at the Powazki Military Cemetery , where – together with the families of Polish fighters and with representatives of left-wing organisations – we lay flowers at Dąbrowski Brigade gravestone.
 

A permanent element of the celebration is also a diverse programme of events including discussions, presentations and film screenings, organised in cooperation with local cafés and cinemas.

In 2020 the anniversary event was exceptionally not held due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Archive queries

We conduct regular archive searches on behalf of the families of Dąbrowski Brigade members, enabling us to supplement information and find documents concerning individual interrogators.

Thanks to our searches we have so far helped numerous relatives of the Dąbrowski Brigade members supplement their family information and discover previously unknown Spanish experiences of their close ones.

If your relative fought in Spain in the Dąbrowski Brigade, contact us at: ochotnicywolnosci@gmail.com.

Archives

Thanks to the cooperation with the Karta Centre Foundation we have opened an archival resource devoted to Dąbrowski Brigade within the Foundation's archives.

If you have original documents or photographs related to the Brigade and you would like to transfer them to our archive resource where they will be professionally archived – please contact us!

If you have material that you want to keep, we also encourage you to contact us – we deal with the digitisation of photographs and documents.

 

“I limit myself to dry facts happening in my rifle [heavy machine gun unit] and the whole battalion (if they reach me). These are often trivialities, and that is why I decided to immortalise these trivialities, the disagreements that arise between us, matters that are quickly forgotten, because who will deal with the trivialities here? Everyone deals with serious matters of war, but small matters only reflect the moods and thoughts of their comrades. It is true that such things cannot be published, because they could, over time, harm the course of our affairs, our victory, but for future times, the real, naked truth must be left. Let people see that even among those who have voluntarily come in the name of the most beautiful and dearest ideals, not all are idealists”

– From the diary of "Bobruś"

Diary of Boruch Nysenbaum

Since 2019 we have been working on the publication of the diary of Boruch Nysenbaum “Bobruś”, Jewish-Polish volunteer from Warsaw, who died in Spain.

The diary, stored in the Archive of New Files, has not yet been published anywhere and is a valuable record of the observations and thoughts of a teenage Jewish-Polish communist who decided to go to Spain to join the International Brigades.

Unlike the memoirs of other former Dąbrowski Brigade members, “Bobruś” recorded his thoughts directly in the front trenches, which makes his diary authentic and free from outside censorship or editorial interference.

The publication will be accompanied by footnotes, explanations, and additional materials.

Mural

We created a mural dedicated to the Polish brigadists ("Dąbrowszczacy") on the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, in July 2021, on the facade of Przychodnia Squat in Warsaw, at 6a Skorupki Street.

The author of the mural is Adam Walas, graphic artist, muralist and member of the association.

The mural was created thanks to over 90 people who contributed to a drop-box organised to cover the costs of its creation.

T-shirts

In 2021 we started cooperation with Lewacka Szma, a company that produces clothes containing leftist message.

The collaboration resulted in original graphics by Adam Walas, a member of our association, referring to the Polish brigadists ("Dąbrowszczacy")

As part of the series of T-shirts (and other articles available in the offer of Lewacka Szmata), three designs are available at the moment:

  • a design referring to our mural in Warsaw
  • a design commemorating the 13th International Brigade
  • A design commemorating the Jewish-Polish volunteers from the N. Botwin Company

More designs are planned.

All t-shirts and other products from the "Polish brigadists - Dąbrowszczacy" series are available in the Lewacka Szmata online store. International shipping is also available. For this purpose, please email: lewackaszmata@gmail.com

www.lewackaszmata.pl