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East Germany (GDR). Commemorative badge for the 30th anniversary of the International Brigades, 1936–1966
The legacy of the Spanish Civil War occupied a prominent place in the political culture of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The memory of the German combatants in the International Brigades evolved through several stages.
In the founding years of the state, recognition of the Interbrigadists was limited: gatherings took place in small circles and had little public visibility. A second phase began with the twentieth anniversary of the Civil War (1956), coinciding with the political thaw following Stalin’s death. That year, the Council of Ministers of the GDR established the Hans Beimler Medal, granting official legitimacy to the veterans and placing them within the framework of state antifascism, and the first commemorative badges of the International Brigades were awarded.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the former combatants organized themselves into their own structures, such as the Committee of Solidarity with the Spanish People in the GDR and the Section of Former Combatants in Spain, thus consolidating their institutional presence. In this context, the Interbrigadist cult reached its greatest political and media relevance, becoming fully integrated into the antifascist and internationalist narrative of the regime.
