Researcher: Sophie Zhou, Stuyvesant '25

Milton Goldstein was born in 1915 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents, Morris (Moshe) ben Yisroel Chudnovsky (1890-1969) and Faiga Sara (Fannue) Snitkin (1892–1975), were immigrants from Poland. Goldstein grew up Jewish and in Brownsville, Brooklyn, a neighborhood that was predominantly Jewish and grew to become known as “little Jerusalem”. Brownsville’s Eastern European Jewish population grew especially exponentially between 1900–1920, and the neighborhood had many chevros (organizations that provided places of worship, study, and community, as well as sick benefits, free loans, insurance, and other deeply valuable advantages to immigrants). Goldstein would have grown up in one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in the city, characterized by its bustling streets filled with pushcart vendors (reminiscent of those of the Lower East Side, which similarly had a large Jewish population) and centers of Jewish intellectualism.

On February 3rd, 1937, Franco’s Nationalist forces attacked Málaga, one of the most populous cities in Andalusia. Aided by forces from Hitler and Mussolini, the Nationalists defeated the Republicans within five days. Three days after the start of the Battle of Málaga, the Nationalists advanced to the Jarama River, beginning the Battle of Jarama. The stakes in the Battle of Jarama were especially high because the Nationalists aimed to cut off connection from Madrid to Valencia (the Republican capital) if they won. It was on this day, February 6th, that Goldstein set sail for Spain abroad the Paris.

Once he arrived in Spain, Goldstein wasted no time getting acclimated; records show he served in the Battle of Jarama, despite it having ended only three weeks after he set sail. He was initially an Assistant Squad Leader, serving in Company 2, Section 1, and later in Company 1, Irish Section; this may have been due to the fact that although he himself was not Irish, he had many Irish friends and companions, so much so that according to one letter he was known as the “singing Milty O’Goldstein”. He also served in Cordoba. By June 1938, Goldstein was a Commissar in the Lincoln-Washington Battalion, Company 1. As commissar—a rank equivalent to that of a commander—he would have maintained discipline and morale within the army. That month, he pulled out of military service due to hernia. He afterwards remained in the brigade but worked in a supportive role as an artist, likely creating propaganda art to promote the Republican cause.

In September 1938 (one source says 1937; however, this seems inconsistent with the other dates it lists) Goldstein returned to the US aboard the De Grasse in compliance with Spain’s Prime Minister Juan Negrín’s order that all international volunteers leave Spain. He later served in WWII in the US Army from October 1941 to November 1945, and seemingly sometime returned to Spain. In November 1941, he married Frieda Fritzy Klempner in Monmouth, New Jersey. Together, they had a daughter Marsha and a son Louis, and at some point moved back to New York (the Bronx specifically). Goldstein worked for the rest of his life as a printer and teacher. He passed away on January 25th, 1974, at the age of just 58, from illness.

Sources

Brooks, Chris. “The Commissar and the Good Fight - by Saul Wellman - the Volunteer.” The Volunteer, 16 Dec. 2015, albavolunteer.org/2015/12/blast-from-the-past-revisited/. Accessed 4 May 2025.

Ciliga. “I Know How Moscow Confesses.” International Review, February 1937. Accessed 25 April 2025.

“History - Brownsville Jewish Community Center.” Brownsville JCC, brownsvillejcc.com/history/. Accessed 1 May 2025.

“Online Lesson: Jewish Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War | the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.” The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, 2022, alba-valb.org/online-lesson-jewish-volunteers-in-the-spanish-civil-war/. Accessed 4 May 2025.