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.

A great graphic novel following a photographer and the Nazi occupation. Great story and artwork.

A very interesting read this was! I'm a huge fan of anything that has to do with world war 2; it fascinates me. Mauthausen is one of the camps I haven't read much about and reading and seeing it through the eyes of Fransesco, talking to his Nuria gave me a whole new perspective. I really enjoyed the storyline; it matched very well with the graphics and those two combined made the novel feel very much real. For me, this is a book I'd recommend if you're into ww2 stories or if you want to know more about what happened at Mauthausen.

A heartbreaking, yet educational graphic novel about the Spaniards in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. One brave Spaniard set out on a mission to photograph the Nazi's and find a way to get those pictures out into the world. This GN did not shy away from discussing the gruesome acts of the Nazi's and what the prisoners dealt with on a day to day basis. The illustrations were stunning, and the dark and gritty imaged tied the story together. I feel like this would be a great addition to high school library shelves.

I have received a much appreciated digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting comic on a little publicized and discussed topic, the Spaniards in the Nazi Concentration Camps. In this work, the reader is confronted with the fate of the Communist Spaniards who fled to France following the victory of Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. With the fall of France in 1940, the Vichy government surrendered these Spanish exiles to the Nazis. From there it's a pretty straightforward holocaust narrative, documenting the larger more common Nazi atrocities, as well as the sadistic tendencies of the individual guards.

One of the nice parts about this work is that it doesn't end with liberation. It goes into the struggles, particularly of Spanish survivors, disowned by Stalin and identified with the Franco regime that they fought to prevent, unable to return to the land of their birth.

As far as the art, it was okay. It was nice at times but I don't think it was quite able to portray the gravity of the situations involved in the work.

Overall, this is a nice work on an underappreciated subject, but it is undermined a bit by the art.

Communist and photographer Francisco Boix is handed over to the Nazis after fleeing to France at the beginning of WWII. He eventually ends up at the Mauthausen camp where he finds a group of communist comrades who help him get a job working in the identification department, where he officially confirms identities and photographers incoming prisoners, and unofficially develops (discreetly) the personal film of Nazi soldiers.
Francisco learns that a powerful and twisted SS officer is photographing the deaths of prisoners for his own satisfaction and considers it art. The officer notices Francisco is a talented photographer and begins bringing him along to set up lights and sometimes stage these gruesome scenes for photographs.
Francisco decides he will find a way to smuggle out the photo negatives as proof of these war crimes to bring the Nazis to justice at the end of the war. With his comrades fearing for their lives, few support his daring plan but he refuses to give up.
A gripping story of the horrors experienced in concentration camps and the weight of risking one's life and the lives of others for the greater good. The Photographer of Mauthausen is a compelling look at a man divided by political party allegiance and his humanity who risks everything to bring the atrocities he witnessed to light so that history will not repeat itself.