A re-enactment of volunteers returning to Ireland after fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War has taken place in Belfast ahead of the screening of archive footage from 1938.
The International Brigade Commemoration Committee will screen footage of volunteers returning to London from the war against the forces of fascist General Franco next month in Belfast’s Linen Hall Library.
The event on December 5 will also feature a reading from Pictures of Tomorrow, by Belfast playwright Martin Lynch, which tells the story of a former International Brigade volunteer reminiscing of his time in Spain during the war.
Made by Ivor Montagu of the Progressive Film Institute, the footage was filmed by members of the Cinematographic Union and captures the return of 304 volunteers in London on December 7, 1938, before many journeyed home to Ireland.
Among them were Irish socialist volunteers who fought on the side of the Spanish Republic during the conflict, including Belfast's Robert Boyle, whose name featured on a placard at Tuesday's re-enactment at Lanyon Place train station.
