Biography

Watt, George (Israel Kwatt); b. November 5, 1913, NYC; Jewish; Father Jacob Kwatt (1893-?), mother Ette Kwatt (1895-?); Attended Brooklyn College 1931 and Cooper Union Institute of Technology, Engineering 1933-35; Married Ruth Rosenthal (1916-1940) on January 15, 1937 in Manhattan, New York; Student (ASU); CP 1937 (1932) and YCL 1932; Received Passport# 441993 on June 14, 1937 which listed his address as 115 Brightwater Court, Brooklyn, New York; Sailed July 24, 1937 aboard Britannic; Arrived in Spain via Massanet on August 6, 1937; Served with XV BDE, Mackenzie-Papineau BN, Party Secretary, light machine gunner; WIA October 13, 1937, Fuentes de Ebro; OTS,  graduated February 16, 1938; Lincoln-Washington BN, Plaza Mayor, promoted to BN Commissar April 8, 1938; Served at Fuentes de Ebro, Retreats, and the Ebro Offensive; Returned to the US on December 20, 1938 aboard the Ausonia; Son Daniel Watt born (1940-); Married Margaret Betty Wechsler (1916-1999) on July 7, 1941, in Far Rockaway, New York; WWII US Army Air Force, Enlisted August 4, 1942, Bomber Crewmember, shot down over Belgium; he was spirited out by the Comet via Spain; d. July 1994, Northport, Rhode Island, cremated and ashes scattered in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, there is a memorial wall with his name inscribed. 

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Sources: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre; Figueres List; -Pap; Pay; RGASPI; ALBA 193 George and Margaret Watt Papers; Good Fight C, Harriman, (obituary) "George Watt, 80, Hospital Executive," New York Times, July 9, 1994; (obituary) The Volunteer, Volume 16, No. 2, Fall 1994, pp. 15-16; George Watt, The Comet Connection, NY: Warner Books, 1990. Code A

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Photograph: George Watt, Commissar, Lincoln-Washington, May 1938. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection; ALBA Photo 11; ALBA Photo number 11-0186. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.