Catalogue Number
NMLH.2011.2.2
Object Name
Medal
Title
Hans Beimler 1895-1936
Place
Spain, Germany
People
Jack Jones, Hans Beimler, German International Brigade Association, Spanish Second Republic, British Battalion of the XV (Fifteenth) International Brigade
Events
Spanish Civil War
Description
A round medal, showing the face of Hans Beimler wearing a brigader's hat and tunic. The medal hangs on a small ribbon bar in the colours of the flag of the Second Spanish Republic (red, yellow, purple).
This medal, the Hans Beimler Award, was presented to the British trade union leader, Jack Jones (1913-2009) by the German International Brigade Association "for services to the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War and Beyond". Hans Beimler was a German Communist politician and trade unionist, who was killed in action while fighting in the International Brigades in 1936. A committed anti-fascist, like Beimler and thousands of other socialists and trade unionists, Jack Jones travelled to Spain to fight against fascist forces, on the side of the Spanish Republic, during the Spanish Civil War. Volunteers from outside Spain fought in International Brigades. Jones fought in the British Battalion of the XV (Fifteenth) International Brigade, and was severely wounded during the Battle of the Ebro in 1938. Later in life, Jones was president of the International Brigade Memorial Trust. His last public act before full retirement was to unveil a memorial to the International Brigades on 7
December 2008, on the 70th anniversary of the return of his battalion back to the UK when the International Brigades were withdrawn from Spain. The Republicans ultimately lost the Spanish Civil War, leading to a fascist dictatorship under Francisco Franco which lasted until Franco's death in 1975.
Jones was born in Liverpool, and became a docker after losing his job as an engineer during the Great Depression. He describes being a socialist after reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists after being passed the book in workplace. Jones describes this as the method through which many workers became convinced of the need to participate in an organised labour movement. Jones joined the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), became a shop steward, then joined the National Docks Group Committee, becoming general secretary of the entire TGWU in 1968. One of his achievements as a union leader was helping to establish the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) which acts as a neutral party to help solve disputes and grievances between workers and employers. By 1977, polls indicated that 54% of people viewed Jones as the most powerful man in the country, outstripping even the Prime Minister and the monarch. PHM's collection of medals from Jones are largely a mix of
honours relating to his service in Spain, and acknowledgements of his service to the trade union movement.
