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geekwayne's review
4.0
'The Photographer of Mauthausen' by Salva Rubio with illustrations by Pedro Columbo is a retelling of the life of Francisco Boix, a Spanish press photographer who found himself in a concentration camp and was witness to horrific events.
Francisco, or Francois, fled to France at the beginning of World War II. The French handed him over to the Nazis and he was sent to Mauthausen, a camp with an entrance, but not much of an exit. He found himself using his photographic skills in a bid to survive. He photographed Nazi officers, but also the dead. He realized that he had access to evidence to potentially convict the Nazis, but first he had to figure out how to get the photos out.
It's not an easy story to read, but it's a good one. The things that Francisco saw were pretty terrible, and that's alluded to with the amazing cover to this volume. The art is top notch throughout, as is the story.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
Francisco, or Francois, fled to France at the beginning of World War II. The French handed him over to the Nazis and he was sent to Mauthausen, a camp with an entrance, but not much of an exit. He found himself using his photographic skills in a bid to survive. He photographed Nazi officers, but also the dead. He realized that he had access to evidence to potentially convict the Nazis, but first he had to figure out how to get the photos out.
It's not an easy story to read, but it's a good one. The things that Francisco saw were pretty terrible, and that's alluded to with the amazing cover to this volume. The art is top notch throughout, as is the story.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
saracat's review against another edition
5.0
First, I want to thank both NetGalley and Dead Reckoning for giving me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a very powerful story and it felt very appropriate to have been made into a visual story since photographs are such a crucial part of the narrative. Most of the holocaust narratives I have read in books or seen in movies over the years have mostly featured Jews or those who were trying to help them. In history class we learned that there were those who didn't have any connection to Judaism or Jews who got sent to concentration camps, but this is the first story I have read that didn't focus on those groups. In this case, Spaniards. And more specifically, mostly those who fled Spain when Franco came to power. (If I hadn't read [b:A Long Petal of the Sea|46042377|A Long Petal of the Sea|Isabel Allende|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565211383l/46042377._SY75_.jpg|69307454], I probably would not have understood situation as to how these men ended up in France and then the concentration camp. Though, in that book, the Spain refugees go to South America.)
This graphic novel mostly focuses on one man: Francisco Boix and how he hopes to use photographs to fight the Nazis. The artwork is gorgeous. The color palate sets the mood and feel of the story perfectly. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to know about this part of history.
Content Warning: Scenes from concentration camps (though they clearly convey about the conditions, they are not specifically graphic in gory detail)
This was a very powerful story and it felt very appropriate to have been made into a visual story since photographs are such a crucial part of the narrative. Most of the holocaust narratives I have read in books or seen in movies over the years have mostly featured Jews or those who were trying to help them. In history class we learned that there were those who didn't have any connection to Judaism or Jews who got sent to concentration camps, but this is the first story I have read that didn't focus on those groups. In this case, Spaniards. And more specifically, mostly those who fled Spain when Franco came to power. (If I hadn't read [b:A Long Petal of the Sea|46042377|A Long Petal of the Sea|Isabel Allende|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565211383l/46042377._SY75_.jpg|69307454], I probably would not have understood situation as to how these men ended up in France and then the concentration camp. Though, in that book, the Spain refugees go to South America.)
This graphic novel mostly focuses on one man: Francisco Boix and how he hopes to use photographs to fight the Nazis. The artwork is gorgeous. The color palate sets the mood and feel of the story perfectly. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to know about this part of history.
Content Warning: Scenes from concentration camps (though they clearly convey about the conditions, they are not specifically graphic in gory detail)
jhouses's review against another edition
3.0
Un cómic basado en sucesos reales que se queda corto en el guión y cuya fidelidad al registro histórico le resta en lo gráfico. Me queda la convicción de que en manos de Paco Roca hubiese sido una obra maestra y aquí se queda en un trabajo respetable sin mas.
saramarie08's review against another edition
5.0
Read more graphic novel reviews at www.graphiclibrary.org.
This story is based on true events of the life of Francisco Boix, a prisoner of war interned at Mauthausen.
Boix is a Spaniard and a newspaper photographer and communist who is captured in France and sent to several camps before ending up at Mauthausen. For a while, Francisco works as a translator, tasked with translating the insults German soldiers hurl at the prisoners. Later, Francisco is moved up to working in the photography lab at the camp, where he discovers that the SS are meticulously documenting the deaths of prisoners, but staging them and classifying them as suicides or escape attempts. Despite the dangers to his life and the life of those in the camp, Francisco decides it is exceedingly important to get the negatives of these photos out of the camp to show the world what the Nazis were really doing in these extermination camps. After the war, Francisco participates as a witness in the Nuremberg trials, but he finds that most people cannot fathom the photos so many risked their lives to save.
This novel is strikingly authentic - Colombo is not shy about illustrating the detailed horrors of how men died in these camps, and the effect is somewhat like the people who do not want to see Boix' photographs. As an audience who hasn't experienced anything like The Holocaust, it is difficult to see these images and to wrap our minds around how the Nazis acted and felt about the different groups they persecuted. But, this topic deserves to be showcased in its uncensored way so as not to sugar-coat any part of the atrocities of what happened. Boix is probably not someone who gets studied in history class, but he is an important figure and a main reason we have any information from the workings of Mauthausen.
Colombo seems to have one basic face shape for all prisoners, so everyone looks very similar, including Mateu, the young boy in the camp. Otherwise, his work is very detailed and, most of the time, very heartbreaking. Landa's coloring makes use of mostly dark blues and earth tones in and around the camp, the effect of which shows the dingy conditions and bleak atmosphere of life there.
There is frontal male nudity in scenes where prisoners are sanitized from typhoid or other diseases, and obviously quite a bit of death and murder depicted. This book would be more appropriately paired with high school history classes because of the gravity and attention needed for Holocaust topics.
Sara’s Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12
This story is based on true events of the life of Francisco Boix, a prisoner of war interned at Mauthausen.
Boix is a Spaniard and a newspaper photographer and communist who is captured in France and sent to several camps before ending up at Mauthausen. For a while, Francisco works as a translator, tasked with translating the insults German soldiers hurl at the prisoners. Later, Francisco is moved up to working in the photography lab at the camp, where he discovers that the SS are meticulously documenting the deaths of prisoners, but staging them and classifying them as suicides or escape attempts. Despite the dangers to his life and the life of those in the camp, Francisco decides it is exceedingly important to get the negatives of these photos out of the camp to show the world what the Nazis were really doing in these extermination camps. After the war, Francisco participates as a witness in the Nuremberg trials, but he finds that most people cannot fathom the photos so many risked their lives to save.
This novel is strikingly authentic - Colombo is not shy about illustrating the detailed horrors of how men died in these camps, and the effect is somewhat like the people who do not want to see Boix' photographs. As an audience who hasn't experienced anything like The Holocaust, it is difficult to see these images and to wrap our minds around how the Nazis acted and felt about the different groups they persecuted. But, this topic deserves to be showcased in its uncensored way so as not to sugar-coat any part of the atrocities of what happened. Boix is probably not someone who gets studied in history class, but he is an important figure and a main reason we have any information from the workings of Mauthausen.
Colombo seems to have one basic face shape for all prisoners, so everyone looks very similar, including Mateu, the young boy in the camp. Otherwise, his work is very detailed and, most of the time, very heartbreaking. Landa's coloring makes use of mostly dark blues and earth tones in and around the camp, the effect of which shows the dingy conditions and bleak atmosphere of life there.
There is frontal male nudity in scenes where prisoners are sanitized from typhoid or other diseases, and obviously quite a bit of death and murder depicted. This book would be more appropriately paired with high school history classes because of the gravity and attention needed for Holocaust topics.
Sara’s Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12
mandyist's review
5.0
Most online accounts of Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Albert Speer mention that they were convicted at the Nuremberg trials but few accounts mention the testimony and evidence provided by Francisco Boix that enabled those convictions. Nor do they mention the bravery and sacrifices of the people involved in preserving and delivering that evidence to the outside world.
The Photographer of Mauthausen by Salva Rubio (writer), Pedro J Colombo (illustrator) and Aintzane Landa (colourist) tells the story of Boix, a Spanish photographer and veteran of the Spanish Civil War. Following his part in the civil war, Boix was exiled to France and joined the French army before being captured by the Germans. The Photographer of Mauthausen starts with Boix's arrival at Mauthausen in 1941.
Boix starts off his internment as a translator but soon finds a position in the photography lab. Somehow, inexplicably, SS-Hauptscharführer Paul Ricken takes a liking to to Boix and recruits him as assistant to his macabre photography project. In this role, Boix is exposed to the many atrocities being committed at Mauthausen (in addition to the ones he had already witnessed).
Boix realises initially that this evidence needs to be preserved and several prisoners get involved in making this happen. However, as news reaches camp of an impending Russian victory, Boix realises that he needs to get proof of the atrocities to people on the outside of the camp.
Boix was successful and both his testimony and the photographic evidence proved that Nazis such as Kaltenbrunner and Speer were not only aware of what was happening at Mauthausen but they were complicit in the atrocities too.
The value of The Photographer of Mauthausen is in the questions that it raises about justice and remembrance. At the time of the Nuremberg trials, the photos were used to obtain convictions but Boix expresses frustration on page in the graphic novel about why people weren't more concerned about what happened at Mauthausen and the atrocities committed.
The Photographer of Mauthausen is an excellent graphic novel that tells, in an accessible format, an important story in the annals of Holocaust history while serving as an educational source on both Nazi atrocities and the trials following the war.
The Photographer of Mauthausen by Salva Rubio (writer), Pedro J Colombo (illustrator) and Aintzane Landa (colourist) tells the story of Boix, a Spanish photographer and veteran of the Spanish Civil War. Following his part in the civil war, Boix was exiled to France and joined the French army before being captured by the Germans. The Photographer of Mauthausen starts with Boix's arrival at Mauthausen in 1941.
Boix starts off his internment as a translator but soon finds a position in the photography lab. Somehow, inexplicably, SS-Hauptscharführer Paul Ricken takes a liking to to Boix and recruits him as assistant to his macabre photography project. In this role, Boix is exposed to the many atrocities being committed at Mauthausen (in addition to the ones he had already witnessed).
Boix realises initially that this evidence needs to be preserved and several prisoners get involved in making this happen. However, as news reaches camp of an impending Russian victory, Boix realises that he needs to get proof of the atrocities to people on the outside of the camp.
Boix was successful and both his testimony and the photographic evidence proved that Nazis such as Kaltenbrunner and Speer were not only aware of what was happening at Mauthausen but they were complicit in the atrocities too.
The value of The Photographer of Mauthausen is in the questions that it raises about justice and remembrance. At the time of the Nuremberg trials, the photos were used to obtain convictions but Boix expresses frustration on page in the graphic novel about why people weren't more concerned about what happened at Mauthausen and the atrocities committed.
The Photographer of Mauthausen is an excellent graphic novel that tells, in an accessible format, an important story in the annals of Holocaust history while serving as an educational source on both Nazi atrocities and the trials following the war.
ck11's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
5.0