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A review by themaddiehatter
The Photographer of Mauthausen by Salva Rubio
4.0
"Things will change. One day or another, they'll understand. If not, history will repeat itself."
"The Photographer of Mauthausen" is based on the real-life experience of Francisco Boix, a Spanish photographer affiliated with the Spanish communist party. After fleeing Spain at the beginning of World War II to go to France, he finds himself handed over by the French to the Nazis, who take him to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Unlike other Nazi concentration camps, Mauthausen was an "extermination through labor" camp, that imprisoned political prisoners and members of high social classes from countries subjugated by the Nazis. This set this book apart for me, as almost all other Nazi-related books I've read focused on the Jewish Holocaust, and not on the other categories of camp prisoners.
Soon after arriving at Mauthausen, Boix manages to be assigned to work as a photographer documenting the "accidental" deaths at the camp. Through this work he becomes more aware of the sadism of the Nazis and realizes he is in a position that allows him to expose this sadism to the world. Despite its short length, this graphic novel presents a lot of valuable information and tugs at its readers' emotions, as it does not hold back from describing the horrors that the prisoners lived through at the hands of the Nazis. The illustrations, with their bleak blueish-gray colors, pair very well with the narrative. This is definitely a worthwhile read for those with an affinity for history. Thank you NetGalley and Europe Comics for the opportunity to read this graphic novel in exchange for my honest review.
"The Photographer of Mauthausen" is based on the real-life experience of Francisco Boix, a Spanish photographer affiliated with the Spanish communist party. After fleeing Spain at the beginning of World War II to go to France, he finds himself handed over by the French to the Nazis, who take him to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Unlike other Nazi concentration camps, Mauthausen was an "extermination through labor" camp, that imprisoned political prisoners and members of high social classes from countries subjugated by the Nazis. This set this book apart for me, as almost all other Nazi-related books I've read focused on the Jewish Holocaust, and not on the other categories of camp prisoners.
Soon after arriving at Mauthausen, Boix manages to be assigned to work as a photographer documenting the "accidental" deaths at the camp. Through this work he becomes more aware of the sadism of the Nazis and realizes he is in a position that allows him to expose this sadism to the world. Despite its short length, this graphic novel presents a lot of valuable information and tugs at its readers' emotions, as it does not hold back from describing the horrors that the prisoners lived through at the hands of the Nazis. The illustrations, with their bleak blueish-gray colors, pair very well with the narrative. This is definitely a worthwhile read for those with an affinity for history. Thank you NetGalley and Europe Comics for the opportunity to read this graphic novel in exchange for my honest review.