Cover of August Cesarec’s Španjolski susreti (Spanish Encounters)

August Cesarec is considered one of the most revolutionary Croatian and Yugoslav writers of the 20th century. Works such as Stjepan Radić and the Republic (1925) and Son of the Homeland: The Life Drama of Eugene Kvaternik (1940) are imbued with revolutionary aspirations, as well as reflections on Croatian national issues. The logical consequence of his revolutionary activity were his travels through Spain during the Civil War, resulting in his book Spanish Encounters: A Book of Encounters with People and Cities (1938). Like many foreign writers who witnessed the conflict in Spain, such as Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, and Nordahl Grieg, Cesarec described not only the battles and the lives of soldiers who fought for the Republican cause against fascism, but also captured the spirit of the country and its people.  

Cesarec had been an active member of the Yugoslav Communist Party (KPJ) since the 1920s, and in the years before the Second World War contributed significantly to the preparation for the expected revolution. The KPJ considered the situation in Spain instructive for Yugoslavia because of the many similarities that united the two countries - economic problems, the necessity of agrarian reform and industrial development, the socio-political role of the Church, and the so-called national question. For these reasons, the Central Committee of the KPJ tasked Cesarec with writing a book about Spain and Yugoslav volunteers, which, in the spirit of the Popular Front, would be aimed at the general public. 

Cesarec arrived in Spain in September 1937. As soon as he disembarked from a ship in Barcelona, he was arrested by military police on suspicion of being a spy because they did not think he looked like a revolutionary. After being rescued by fellow Yugoslav volunteer Veljko Vlahović, Cesarec traveled through the Republican part of Spain for two months, visiting the front lines, devastated cities, burnt villages, hospitals, and museums. He met and spoke with Spanish poets, intellectuals, various soldiers, peasants, and ordinary citizens. Some lyrical descriptions of landscapes, Spain’s cultural heritage, and history are present, but the book is mostly written as a report aimed at mobilizing support for the Republican cause. Although Cesarec did not fight on the battlefields of Spain and the book had limited impact in Yugoslavia due to the strict censorship, Spanish Encounters remains a stirring testament to Cesarec’s revolutionary ideals and the international struggle against fascism. He was arrested and executed by the fascist Ustasha regime shortly after they came to power during the Second World War.