List of Brazilians who served in the International Brigades

Dozens of Brazilian citizens volunteered to fight in defence of the Spanish Republic. The exact number of Brazilians who fought in Spain is unknown, but this list created by the  political police of Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of the country, suggests that at least 39 enlisted in the International Brigades. The list was sent to the Department of Political and Social Order (DEOPS), the political police of São Paulo in March 1939, along with a request to surveille the places they could disembark. Aware of the advance of the Francoist forces and the dismantling of the International Brigades, the police assumed that the Brazilian volunteers would return to the country and wanted to control them. 

Most of the Brazilian volunteers had experienced moments of intense political activity, and some had participated in the 1935 Communist uprising started by members of the army. In July 1937, the Brazilian Communist Party recommended the immediate creation of an anti-fascist front with the intention of recruiting at least one hundred volunteers to create a contingent that would join the International Brigades. It was unable to meet its goal of one hundred men, but at least three dozen Brazilians fought for the Spanish Republic. 

Most of the Brazilians were involved in combat. Apolônio de Carvalho, David Capistrano, Delcy Silveira and José Gay da Cunha were wounded, and Enéas Jorge de Andrade died during an aerial engagement in 1938. Hermenegildo de Assis Brasil and José Gay da Cunha had important military positions. Assis Brasil became a hero after leading a successful attack against the enemy and Gay da Cunha became the commander of the Lincoln Brigade. 

After the dismantling of the International Brigades in September 1938, the Brazilians followed different paths. In 1939, a number of them were interned in concentration camps in France; some were released and returned to Brazil. Those who had prison sentences to serve were transferred to the Gurs camp in the western Pyrenees. In spite of the German advances in Europe, in 1941 Dinarco Reis, Correa de Sá, José Gay da Cunha, Carlos da Costa Leite, Joaquim Silveira dos Santos and David Capistrano were able to return to Brazil. Nota ll were so lucky. Hermenegildo de Assis Brasil died that year. 

The experiences of two Brazilian volunteers are detailed in books. José Gay da Cunha wrote A Brazilian in the Spanish Civil War (1986), and Apolônio de Carvalho described his experience in his memoir, It is Worth Dreaming, which became the basis of a documentary of the same name made in 2003.