Ernst Busch - “Die Thälmann-Kolonne“

“The Thälmann Column,“ also known as “Spanish Skies“ or simply “Freedom!“, is a German communist and anti-fascist song written in 1936 by Gudrun Kabisch and Paul Dessau as an anthem for the German section of the International Brigades, named the Thälmann Batallion in honour of the leader of the German Communist Party at the time imprisoned in a fascist concentration camp in Germany, Ernst Thälmann. During the Spanish Civil War, thousands of exiled German communists alongside their Swiss and Austrian comrades volunteered to stem the fascist tide in Spain, vowing that they would not let another Hitler take power. The German volunteers were among the most determined soldiers of the International Brigades, with countless giving up their lives on the Spanish plains for the freedom of the Spanish working class, and many others later fighting alongside the Soviet Union and the anti-fascist forces of Europe during World War II. (English subtitles)