Italy has sent thousands of troops, and Germany has sent cannons and planes, to the fascists in Spain. But what did the Spanish people get? Jesus said, "I was hungry, and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was naked, and you did not clothe me." -- yeah, is it not so? What have the democratic countries given Spain? Have they done anything but deny Spain the most necessary, or even closed their borders for all provisions?
While the fascists have openly sent troops, we volunteers have had to trick the police of France and our countries of birth with all sorts of roundabout ways to Spain. We would get to Spain even if the Devil himself were assigned to guard the border. But what's worse is that the "democracies" refuse to buy weapons for Spain, indeed, they refuse the Spanish Republic its right-- which is clear as a sunny sky-- to defend itself. But the Lord said, "inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." And the ways these "democratic" countries have treated Spain, are the ways, should Spain fall, these countries will be treated by the same forces they today aid indirectly.
(source: Yngvar Ustvedt's Arbeidere under våpen: Norske frivillige i den spanske borgerkrig, page 45; own translation)
Thanks for the translation.
we volunteers have had to trick the police of France and our countries of birth with all sorts of roundabout ways to Spain
What does this mean?
The other "democratic" countries of Europe had a non-intervention policy regarding the Spanish Civil War. In many countries including Norway, this meant that people were officially forbidden from volunteering as soldiers for the Spanish Republic. This means that the would-be volunteer fighters, in order to get to Spain, often had to use various roundabout ways to actually get to Spain, despite the potential repercussions of their detection.
