Researcher: Ray Lattapongpisut, Stuyvesant '26

Just after the start of WWI, Joseph Harold Azar was born on December 24, 1914 in New York City. He lived in the neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, living at 327 Grand Street. Azar was Jewish and originally worked as an accountant before joining the war. Azar was a part of the Communist Party of the United States, which most likely was his ideological motivation for volunteering in Spain as part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

On January 7, 1937, Azar received his passport to go to Spain. He then sailed to Spain on January 16, 1937 aboard the Paris ship. After arriving in Spain, Azar would serve with different groups such as the XVth Brigade, and specifically the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Both brigades were mostly made up with American volunteers, being a part of the broader international brigades that supported the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War.

From February 6 to 27, the Battle of Jarama occured. It is implied that Azar had little military training since he was only in Spain for a month at this point. This was the first battle that the XVth Brigade participated in, and the brigade resulted in heavy casualties including Azar. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in particular lost 120 out of 500 men, but Azar was not killed. Azar was able to make it out alive after being treated at the Hospitals de Tarancón which had American hospitals under American sponsorship. It could be implied that Azar’s lack of military training might have been common among the brigade, and it could have resulted in this result and perhaps the result of the brigade’s massive losses.

The next battle the brigade and Azar participated in was the Battle of Brunete. The brigade suffered more casualties as a result of the battle, with Azar not being injured this time. The XVth Brigade was reduced from six to four battalions as a result of these casualties, and Azar at this point decided to return to the United States for unknown reasons. Azar’s father Isidore Azar came from the U.S. to pick Azar up, and they took the Georgic ship back to the United States on July 1, 1937.

Despite Azar having a poor experience in Spain and only fighting there for a few months, it would not be Azar’s last experience in the military. Although there’s not much information about Azar’s life after the Spanish Civil War, it is known that Azar served in the United States navy as a motor machinist during World War II. Azar would live a long life, dying on April 19, 2001.

Sources

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/azar-joseph-harold/.

Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain : The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. New York: Penguin Books, 2014. PDF.

Universitat de Barcelona. https://sidbrint.puntzero.cat/brigadista/azar-joseph-harold#.