Biography
Strukl, Victor. (Vittorio Furlani, Victor Friere Pozuelo); b. October 4, 1903, Trieste, Austria; Served in the Austro-Hungarian Army in WWI; Member of the Italian Communist Party (PCd'I); Arrived in Spain as early as October 1936; Served with the XV Brigade, Lincoln Battalion; Later transferred to the Garibaldis; Held in unknown French concentration, escaped as a stowaway; Married Frances Ortiz on November 13, 1942; joined US Army on November 14, 1942; discharged as early as July 2, 1943; Chicken farmer, cook, and bartender by 1950s; active with VALB in the 1980s; d. July 14, 1994, Hawthorne, Los Angeles, California, buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, Los Angeles, California.
Sources: CPC busta 4976; South Slav; (obituary) Anthony Strukl Alpert, “Victor Strukl,” The Volunteer, Volume 17, No. 2, Fall 1995, pp. 7, 21; L-W Tree Ancestry; Find-a- Grave# 78718974.
Photograph: from Anthony Strukl Alpert
Family Bio: Victor Strukl was born in Trieste, Austria-Hungry, in 1903. After WWI he became a member of the Italian Communist Party. He escaped Italy after Mussolini came to power, and eventually settled in Oregon, working as a blacksmith. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he left for Spain using an alias and a forged passport. He arrived in October 1936, prior to most other Americans. He served in the Lincoln Brigade, the Regiment de Tren, Garibaldi Brigade, and Spanish Republican Army, staying in Spain until the bitter end. He returned to the US, and worked as a bartender, cook, and farmer for fear of being harassed or deported. He died in 1994. - submitted by Anthony Strukl Alpert
Sources: CPC busta 4976; South Slav; (obituary) Anthony Strukl Alpert, “Victor Strukl,” The Volunteer, Volume 17, No. 2, Fall 1995, pp. 7, 21; L-W Tree Ancestry; Find-a- Grave# 78718974.
Photograph: from Anthony Strukl Alpert
Family Bio: Victor Strukl was born in Trieste, Austria-Hungry, in 1903. After WWI he became a member of the Italian Communist Party. He escaped Italy after Mussolini came to power, and eventually settled in Oregon, working as a blacksmith. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he left for Spain using an alias and a forged passport. He arrived in October 1936, prior to most other Americans. He served in the Lincoln Brigade, the Regiment de Tren, Garibaldi Brigade, and Spanish Republican Army, staying in Spain until the bitter end. He returned to the US, and worked as a bartender, cook, and farmer for fear of being harassed or deported. He died in 1994. - submitted by Anthony Strukl Alpert