ISBN Spaniards in Mauthausen: Representations of a Nazi Concentration Camp, 1940-2015 book English 384 pages

Spaniards in Mauthausen is the first study of the cultural legacy of Spaniards imprisoned and killed during the Second World War in the Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen. By examining narratives about Spanish Mauthausen victims over the past seventy years, author Sara J. Brenneis provides a historical, critical, and chronological analysis of a virtually unknown body of work. Diverse accounts from survivors of Mauthausen, chronicled in letters, artwork, photographs, memoirs, fiction, film, theatre, and new media, illustrate how Spaniards have become cognizant of the Spanish government’s relationship to the Nazis and its role in the victimization of Spanish nationals in Mauthausen. As political prisoners, their numbers and experiences differ significantly from the millions of Jews exterminated by Hitler, yet the Spaniards in Mauthausen were nevertheless objects of Nazi violence and witnesses to the Holocaust.

Sara J. Brenneis is an associate professor of Spanish at Amherst College

"A comprehensive account of the many representations of Spanish internees in Mauthausen, in a wide range of written, visual, and digital media from 1940 to the present. Particularly welcome is the stress on the differences between the various accounts, as is the frank treatment of the relations between Spanish and Jewish internees. An essential contribution to Holocaust Studies as well as to Spanish and Catalan cultural history."Jo Labanyi, Chair, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, New York University"An admirable exploration of how Spain built a labyrinth of memory around its Holocaust victims. Sara J. Brenneis makes her case by means of patient research and thorough analysis. High-quality scholarship as an antidote to forgetfulness."Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture, Department of European Studies, Spanish, Latinx and Latin Amer Studies, Amherst College