Aileen O’Brien was born on 4 January 1913 in
San Francisco to William and Margaret O’Brien. In 1934 O’Brien moved to
Ireland with her family. The organisation was founded with the intention of showing support and raising funds for the Nationalist faction of the Spanish Civil War. However, it quickly became a political organisation opposed to the
Irish government of the day. She was the organizing secretary of the ICF In Spain, O’Brien was the intermediary between the ICF and
Cardinal Goma over the distribution of funds raised. She helped to organise medical and other relief units for the rebels. She was involved in the Auxilio Social, Her lectures often attracted large crowds as well as opposition. In
Oakland protestors clashed with police outside one of her lectures. but were
liberal democrats. She stressed the Nationalists’ achievements in areas such as
workers’ rights, Nationalist memoirist
Luis Bolín recounted that while in the United States, O’Brien spoke on the telephone to every Catholic bishop in the country and begged them to request that their parish priests ask all members of their congregations to telegraph in protest to President
Roosevelt. In 1950 she married politician and baron in
Madrid. The couple later relocated to Castle Kalbeck in
Weeze in
Germany, the baron's ancestral home. O’Brien died in Germany in 2000, aged 87. ==References==