Ana Afzali who is a professor in Spanish wrote a book about her great uncle Gonzalo Pando Rivero who played a role in the Spanish Civil war. Afzali said it is a topic that has always interested her and that there has been no Spaniard that has not been affected by the Spanish civil war. The book is titled, “Gonzalo Pando Rivero: De Médico a Comandante Republicano de la Guerra Civil Española”.
Spain has a law called the Protection of Privacy Data, which said unless someone is related to the person of interest, they can not have access to their historical information.
With Rivero being Afzali’s great uncle, she could get information that others did not have access to and tell a story she felt needed to be told.
The writing of the book started four years ago, but a majority of the work was done in the last two years.
During the pandemic, Afzali started digging through the historical archives from the 1920s and ‘30s and got in contact with historians in Spain, like Fernando Colmenarejo, who wrote “La Sierra Convulsa”, and Ernesto Viñas, who is an expert on the Battle of Brunete.
Afzali said the wounds of the Spanish civil war are still very open. Afzali said the politics in Spain are similar to the United States with people being divided. The two sides of the war are liberals and fascists, and her great uncle Rivero was a commander for the liberals.
Afzali said people in the far right believe she is writing this with political motivation, however she said she is only interested in documenting history.
“When we don’t learn from history, history tends to repeat itself,” Afzali said.
Afzali hopes the book will connect with the youth to help avoid mistakes of the past.
“If the younger generation can learn from it and try to avoid future wars and future confrontations then my job is done,” Afzali said.
Afzali not only sought help from people outside of the country but also more locally from a colleague, professor Bruce Solheim.
Solheim writes and publishes, and even made a play about, his family history. Solheim said there is a parallel between both of their works as they both focus on family history.
Solheim acknowledged the possibility of escalation of the situation in Ukraine and how the timing of this book is good.
“I think her book is coming along at a very good time,” Solheim said. “Even though it’s about a different time period, there’s some things people might be able to learn.”
Solheim said it is important young students have knowledge of history from books like Afzali’s as they all play an important role.
“It really brings it home for young students to realize that they make a difference, that the choices they make can make a difference,” Solheim said.
Solheim said the more younger students know about their past, the more equipped they will be to deal with future events, and he said he knows Afzali is a dynamic teacher who can get people excited about this.
Afzali said that it has been received well enough that there will be an English version made in the next one to two years.
