Description

This is the epic story of the thousands of communists exiled from Spain after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War. Disciplined and dedicated to Stalin's cause, they threw themselves again into the struggle against fascism in Europe in the Second World War. In the Service of Stalin is the first full scholarly study of their experiences. Pike examines the contribution of the Spanish communists to the French Resistance, and their sufferings in Mauthausen, the Austrian concentration camp to which most who were captured were consigned. He also traces the history of those who went to the Soviet Union, to fight in the Red Army or to languish in slave camps. Pike's unparalleled knowledge of the archives, many previously unexplored, and the information derived from his interviews with survivors combine to make this both an important study which fills a gap in our knowledge of the Second World War and an enthralling, often moving, history of some of its participants.