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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
The Photographer of Mauthausen by Salva Rubio
4.0
Disclaimer: Arc via Netgalley
Francisco Boix was a Spanish Communist who fled to France and then with the invasion of Germany was sent to Mauthausen as a political prisoner. His photographs that he hid in Mauthausen, at great risk to himself, played a role in the war crime trials that followed the end of WW II. He is often overlooked in American history classes because he was a Communist (and died long before the Wall fell) and Spanish. But he is important because of the evidence that he preserved.
Rudio’s graphic novel is partial biography, detailing what might have happened or did happened in the camp as Boix finds himself in a position to gain evidence of the war crimes committed in the camp. The horrors of the camp are not softened in the graphic novel. The layout and conveying of the story not only illustrate the dangers in saving the historical record, but also in the various ways the evidence was used in the war crime trials as well as the purpose of the trials themselves.
Highly recommended.
Francisco Boix was a Spanish Communist who fled to France and then with the invasion of Germany was sent to Mauthausen as a political prisoner. His photographs that he hid in Mauthausen, at great risk to himself, played a role in the war crime trials that followed the end of WW II. He is often overlooked in American history classes because he was a Communist (and died long before the Wall fell) and Spanish. But he is important because of the evidence that he preserved.
Rudio’s graphic novel is partial biography, detailing what might have happened or did happened in the camp as Boix finds himself in a position to gain evidence of the war crimes committed in the camp. The horrors of the camp are not softened in the graphic novel. The layout and conveying of the story not only illustrate the dangers in saving the historical record, but also in the various ways the evidence was used in the war crime trials as well as the purpose of the trials themselves.
Highly recommended.