Sidney Vogel: Spanish Civil War Surgeon

Abstract

IN JULY 1936, THE democratically elected republican government of Spain was plunged into civil war when General Francisco Franco, with massive aid from Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, led an attempted coup d'etat.1 The republicans received aid from the Soviet Union and Mexico, but the Western democracies imposed an almost complete embargo on weapons and personnel. This was the context in which nearly 3000 Americans went against official US foreign policy and volunteered to fight on the side of the Spanish Republic, joining 35 000 other volunteers in a desperate and ultimately losing battle against the growing fascist menace.2 Among the US volunteers was Sidney Vogel, one of approximately 30 physician participants. Vogel was born April 28, 1904, in New York City. His father, an immigrant from Germany, was a physician. In 1927, Vogel received his medical degree from the University of Michigan and served an internship at Manhattan State Hospital, a psychiatric facility. In the 1930s, he practiced general medicine in New York City, at one point working for a large insurance company. Like many of his friends and family, he took progressive positions on the issues of the day, and like other idealistic physicians, he became caught up in the campaign led by the Medical Bureau of the Friends of Spanish Democracy to provide medical support to the republican forces.3–5 On May 29, 1937, Vogel arrived in Spain and was posted with the rank of captain to Murcia as director of the Casa Roja hospital. There he both supervised the work of the hospital and practiced surgery alongside his colleagues. As Franco's forces advanced, he was transferred to Mataro and other hospitals near Barcelona, always as director. Although the international brigades were withdrawn from combat in October 1938, medical staff members remained behind to supervise the transfer of the wounded out of Spain. In January 1939, Vogel left Spain for Paris and then New York, where he arrived in late February. Like many Spanish Civil War veterans, he volunteered again to fight fascism after Pearl Harbor, serving in the US Army's North African and Italian campaigns.6 As the only medical staff on his postings with any psychiatric experience, he was often assigned to care for shellshock victims and other disoriented patients. After the war, he used the GI Bill to retrain as a psychiatrist. He had a special interest in the then-novel fields of group therapy and alcoholism, topics on which he published several articles in the 1950s.7–9 He practiced psychiatry in New York City until his death on April 1, 1986. The document by Vogel printed here offers a contemporary first-hand description of medical practice during the Spanish Civil War. Previously unpublished, it was found in the American Lincoln Brigade Archives at New York University. Most likely dating from mid-1939, the manuscript's intended audience and publication venue are unknown. Because it is written in a popular rather than technical manner, it may have been meant to sensitize public opinion in preparation for the coming war.10 Throughout his text, Vogel emphasizes that organizational advances represent the main contribution made by medical staff in wartime. For example, this is the main significance of his vivid discussion of blood transfusion work during the Spanish Civil War. He expresses admiration for the system developed by Spanish personnel, but does not mention Norman Bethune, who subsequently received what now appears to be undeserved credit for these organizational innovations.11,12 Published accounts from the period by Spanish Civil War medical personnel can be counted on the fingers of one hand. In addition, Vogel is one of many Spanish Civil War volunteers whose participation has gone virtually unmentioned in the scholarly literature. Together, these factors make this article of special interest.