Tributes have been paid this week to Josep Almudéver, believed to have been the last surviving member of the International Brigades, who has died in France at the age of 101. He was born in the French city of Marseilles in 1919, but was living in the town of Alcasser, in Valencia, when the Civil War began. He lied about his age and fought for the Republicans, but was wounded and then sent home when it was realised that he was only 16. Undeterred, he used his French nationality to join the International Brigades. When the war ended he was sent to concentration camps and then different prisons, and when he was released he became a guerrilla fighter. He fled to France in exile in 1947 and did not return to Spain until 1965. Two years ago, he was honoured by the Valencian government for his fight for democracy and freedom.
