Spaniards in Mauthausen: Representations of a Concentration Camp

A Book Talk by Sara Brenneis, Professor of Spanish, Amherst College

"Spaniards in Mauthausen: Representations of a Concentration Camp," is the first study of the cultural legacy of Spaniards imprisoned and killed during the Second World War in the Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen. 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. 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.

Presented by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Center for Austrian Studies, and Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Co-Sponsored by The Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity (Western Washington University), the University of Graz (Austria), and the Centro Sefarad-Israel (Madrid