20 Facts About Mosess Fishman

Mosess "Moe" Fishman fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and was wounded during the Spanish Civil War.

Mosess Fishman was general secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Veterans' Association.

Mosess Fishman was born on September 28,1915, in Astoria, New York.

Mosess Fishman graduated from Stuyvesant High School at the age of 16 and entered college for one semester.

Mosess Fishman had to leave college for lack of funds and went to work in his father's commercial laundry.

Mosess Fishman helped organize a large laundry business whose employees thereupon got a weekly pay increase from $12 to $14 in their first contract.

Mosess Fishman then applied again as a truck driver and was accepted provided that he recruit ten other volunteers.

Mosess Fishman did but none of them actually showed up, but he was accepted anyway.

Mosess Fishman arrived in Spain in April 1937 and began serving as a soldier in the George Washington Battalion.

Mosess Fishman spent a year in Spain recovering from his wound and was then evacuated back to New York, where he spent another two years in hospitals.

Mosess Fishman got a job in the warehouse of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.

Mosess Fishman remained active in the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Mosess Fishman's organizing activities took him all over the United States, to a great many meetings and speaking engagements, especially in High Schools and colleges.

Mosess Fishman became, for many, the public face of the VALB.

Mosess Fishman was a handsome, lean, well-dressed figure who spoke well and was happy to represent the organizations.

Each year at the reunion it was Mosess Fishman who read out the roll of names of the surviving veterans and announced the deaths of those who had died since the previous year.

Mosess Fishman remained active in a number of progressive organizations, including Veterans For Peace New York City Chapter 34, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, and United for Peace and Justice.

Mosess Fishman participated in protesting the US Navy's use of Vieques, an island off Puerto Rico as a bombing range until 2003.

Mosess Fishman lived in the Penn South co-op in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

Mosess Fishman died in Manhattan aged 92 on August 6,2007, from pancreatic cancer.