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Communists and Opera Fans, April 1959

Here Vilma Espín, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Che’s wife Aleida March, Raúl Castro, Alfredo Guevara and Guillermo Cabrera Infante are seen attending a performance of the famed soprano Elizabeth Schwartzkopf during Fidel Castro’s good will tour of the northeastern United States in April 1959. Ironically, Schwarzkopf had been a member of the Nazi Party who had also appeared in feature films crafted by Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.  This fact was surely not lost on the anti-Nazi fighter Andrew St. George.