LOS BRIGADISTAS INTERNACIONALES Y SU VIAJE A ESPAÑA: LOS YUGOSLAVOS Y SUS RECUERDOS DE LA GUERRA CIVIL ESPAÑOLA
THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES AND THE JOURNEY TO SPAIN: YUGOSLAVS AND THEIR MEMORIES OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Summary/Abstract: Given that many Yugoslav volunteers were part of the International Brigades and took part in the battles during the Spanish Civil War, there is an extensive bibliography based on their memories, diaries and autobiographies that hold great documentary, as well as literary value. In this paper we will analyze two works by authors known as’’španci’’:’'Root, Trunk, Liana'’ by Gojko Nikoliš (1980), and ’'Spain of My Youth: A Letter to My Children'’ (1997) by Lazar Udovički. Both works dedicate several chapters to the journey from Yugoslavia to Spain at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and describe in detail the turbulent trajectory to the Spanish front. Nikoliš was a military doctor, so he offers both humanistic and naturalistic perspective, while Udovički was a fighter on the front and focuses on the strategic dimension of the Spanish Civil War. Both authors consider the journey to Spain not only as a political act, but also as a way to explore the world, cultures and similarities and differences in geographical, historical, linguistic and cultural aspects, and as a mean to break stereotypes about the Other. We will attempt to demonstrate that Nikoliš and Udovički narrate about formative and ideological journey and to analyze how they contextualize it within a broader European setting

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