Milton Felsen Papers

Milt Felsen (1912-2005) was born in New York and attended the University of Iowa before going to Spain to volunteer in the International Brigades in May 1937. He was a machine-gunner in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and was wounded at Brunete. After convalescing, he finished out the balance of the war as an ambulance driver. He served in World War II with the OSS, was wounded and spent two years in prisoner-of-war camps in Italy and Germany. After the war, he worked for film-related labor unions in New York and as a producer on various iflm projects, including "Saturday Night Fever."

Felsen's memoir of his childhood and wartime experiences, The Anti-Warrior, was published in 1989. The collection includes materials from his time in Spain, including a handwritten diary (1938), with a typed transcription, and an autograph book signed by IB veterans and annotated by Felsen. Additional materials include loose pages of a hearing transcript in which Felsen answers questions put to him by Senator Hruska regarding his affiliations with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the Communist Party, and the OSS; clippings and photos (laser copies and copy prints); a copy of Felson's birth certificate; WWII military medals and insignia; identity papers of a German soldier (photocopies); and an International Brigades belt buckle. Also included are typescript draft sections of a memoir covering his post-World War II activities; there are multiple copies and multiple versions of some sections oft his incomplete work.