At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he volunteered for the Spanish Army in Barcelona, belonging to the German Thälmann Battalion of the International Brigades.
Thälmann Battalion, battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War
Ernest Hemingway went even further in his admiration, calling them representative of the "true Germany" and contrasting them unfavourably with the Germans fighting on the other side in the Legion Condor.
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Infighting between anarchists and communists, eventually resulting in outright battles with several hundred dead and the purging of rival communist groups like the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), also further poisoned the atmosphere as Francisco Franco's victory came closer.
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