Biography
Shansky, Michael. (Shantzek, Shanzky); b. April 28, 1909, NYC; Jewish; Father Isidore “Izzie” Shanzky (1877-1974), mother Dora “Devorah” Yonoff (1885-1940); 7th grade education; No prior military service; Single; Painter in film studio; CP September 1933, Painters Union AFL; Received Passport# 26098, San Francisco series, on March 31, 1937 which listed his address as 722 North Hoover Street, Los Angeles, California and 1017 South Ardmore Avenue, Los Angeles, California; Sailed May 8, 1937 aboard the American Importer; Arrived in Albacete on May 29, 1937; Trained Tarazona to the front August 7, 1938; Served with the XV Brigade, Lincoln-Washington Battalion; May 5, 1938 to the BDE Auto Park, Medic; Rank Sargento; Served at Quinto, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro, Teruel, and the Aragon; Rank Soldado; Reported WIA March 10, 1938, Belchite, hit in the elbow by a bullet, in hospital Barcelona five weeks; Returned to the US on December 20, 1938 aboard the Ausonia; WWII US Army, enlisted April 1, 1942, discharged December 5, 1945; Married Sophia T. Grodsky (1910-1979) on February 1, 1948 in Dade County, Florida; Was a CP functionary in the early 1950s; d. February 23, 1987, Miami, Florida. Arrested in 1954.Sources: Sail; SACB; Cadre; BN 58 Retreats; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 986, ll. 22-30.
Michael Shantzek Interview, ALBA V 48-208, February 1987, Manny Harriman Video Oral History Collection; ALBA VIDEO 048; box number 18; folder number 24; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Photographs: Michael Shanzky, first aid, Lincoln-Washington, March 1938. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection; ALBA Photo 11; ALBA Photo number 11-0005. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries; and RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 986.
