Spaniards 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.

Sara J. Brenneis is a professor of Spanish at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

"The book is thorough and informative. The bibliography is abundant and pertinent. It is a good source of information about the representation of the Spaniards in Mauthausen."

Sebastiaan Faber:

"[A]n evocatively written reflection on Mauthausen today – as a physical and imagined space – that reads like a compelling piece of long-form reporting."

Maria Delgado:
"Sara Brenneis' terrific monograph...makes a timely and important contribution to memory studies both in Spain and across a wider transnational field."

Santiago López Rodríguez:

"The book immerses us in a complex history, which is only now slowly being revealed to Spanish society. [...] Brenneis’ work illuminates the complexity of this history, thus making it a necessary reference for future studies."

Wendy Perla Kurtz:

"Spaniards in Mauthausen advances historical memory discourse by contributing new voices to the conversation as it brings forth representations of Spaniards from concentration camps to form a part of the historiography of the Spanish Civil War and Franco dictatorship."

Andrea Hepworth, Victoria University of Wellington:
"Brenneis has crafted a cohesive and thought-provoking study on the experiences of Spaniards in Mauthausen, which is underpinned by meticulous research, and engagingly written."

Ariel Dorfman:

"A painstaking and definitive book."

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 :

"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."

Jo Labanyi, Chair, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, New York University:

"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."