The art and layout of this comic is phenomenal and I loved the way it tells its story. There were parts of this comic that were difficult to read, given the subject matter, but even during those moments, I was floored by how well it was being told.

This book has a very important message and highlights one of a seemingly infinite number of people whose story isn't well-known. The horrors of World War II aren't overlooked or softened. I can't say that I enjoyed this book, because the word "enjoyed" feels wrong given what this book is about, but I was certainly impressed with what it achieved in its story-telling.

The Photographer of Mauthausen is an eye opening story about what goes on inside a concentration camp. I was immediately enraptured by the story right from the very beginning and until the end. I was deeply moved and I feel like fighting along with them for what they have gone through because no one deserves to be treated that way. What they did, fought for and the destruction they caused in this world is too much and I'm so glad that they no longer exist. But the people that went through by their hands will have an effect on them forever.

This book is very important and raw. I didn't know what I was expecting when I saw this book but it definitely wasn't anything like how and what this story entails. Voices need to be heard, we need to listen to them and we must do something about it so that no one ever has to suffer the actions of people with so much hate in their hearts and entire being.

Well done to this book for redressing a balance – the fact that I hardly considered Spanish inmates in Nazi camps, let alone Communist ones. And well done, too, for doing it with a story of high drama and proper grit. Apart from the framing device (which at least shows our hero kept some spunk and friendly spirit, despite all he'd been through, but which didn't really add that much) I really got caught up in the true story of a Spanish Communist, tasked with first translating for the Nazis and Kapos, then employed in the photographic department, recording arrivals and more. The way they tried to get photographic proof of the Shoah out may seem over-blown to some, but from their point of view, where they had no timeline for the end of the war and a need to rely on any possible hope for some justice in the future, it must have been important. This is much beyond a standard story of life in the Holocaust, with all its attendant darkness and camp details, for it has some real-life espionage to go with its historical basis. Some may find the artwork a little coarse, but I really liked this for the story, so it's four and a half stars from me.

I found this book to be authentic and engaging. While the content was justifiable horrifying, the graphic novel gave glimpses of beauty and hope. Rubio did an excellent job in the genre of historical fiction and as a graphic novel. Colomo and Landa combined to provide an appropriate setting for the story, which was mostly stark but gripping.
This would be an excellent high school reading assignment for literature and/or history.
"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

I received an e-copy of The Photographer of Mauthausen from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really didn't know what to expect from this graphic novel when I downloaded it but I am so glad that I did, this was not a story that I had ever heard about and seeing that it is a true story to one of the most talked-about events in history is mindblowing to me.

The Photographer of Mauthausen follows the true story of a Spanish man who was imprisoned in a nazi concentration camp during World War 2, that's the thing that always gets to me is that history leaves out just how many people that were non-Jewish were also sent to the camps. Francisco Boix is the name of the man that the story follows and he is tasked with photographing what was going on in the camps and while doing this he starts to hide away some of the pictures that are later used to convict nazi members.

This was a very heavy topic and like anything to do with the nazi and the concentration camps it was hard to read about but this is such a different perspective then any I had seen before and I am so glad that I read it.

Thank you so much for letting me review a copy.

In this graphic novel, we follow Francisco Boix, a Spanish Communist who ends up in Mauthausen, a Nazi death camp. Due to his language and photography skills, he is taken on as an assistant to an artist wannabe Nazi who photographs the many tragic deaths of the inmates. Boix sees this as an opportunity to collect evidence of the Nazi's atrocities and goes to work trying to hide negatives and move them out of the camp. He is successful, and his photos go on to help with convictions, but he dies tragically young. This is yet another important contribution to the canon of literature that tells us varied perspectives from the second World War. Given that most concentration camp narratives are from Jewish perspectives, I appreciated the fact that this was from a political prisoner and yet another reminder of the many who were tortured and killed for their beliefs and convictions.

Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp. The Photography of Mauthausen tells the story of Spanish prisoner and former newspaper photographer Francisco. Director of the Erkennungsdienst, Ricken, was an amateur photographer himself. He orders Francisco to assist him in photographing the inmate death scenes.

And those scenes are horrific. Injecting gasoline into inmate’s hearts? Pushing prisoners into electrified fences “Just for laughs”? Ricken wanted to turn these terrible deaths into art. Francisco, with the help of the Spanish communists within the camp, wants to send them to the Russians to use for anti-Germany propaganda.

The Photography of Mauthausen is a perfect merging of story and art to tell a true memoir of a particularly malevolent time in human history. The coloring, especially the brown lithographic scenes, added to the emotion in the scenes. This is an important story that needs to be told. Plus it takes a new, more personal, perspective on concentration camp inmates and their guards. 5 stars!

Thanks to Dead Reckoning and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Graphic novels can be used to incredible effect, especially with laying out stories that may have otherwise go unheard. Moreover, its the type of medium where you can take in a panel for an infinite amount of time, as a way to stop it.

I had never heard of the Spanish photographer Francisco Boix or the Mauthausen concentration camp before, until now. This is a semi-factual account about the life and death in the camp as well as the incredible feat, he partook in, of stealing negatives of photos taken by the Nazis that were later used as evidence to expose the atrocities there.

The artists never shy away from displaying the horror and hardships lived there. The art is very intricate with deep, stark lines and dark, pale colours. The narrator's POV helps with immersion into that world and yet, as it is said later, I won't know what it was really like as I didn't live through the atrocities. There are many questions raised here, about doing the right thing and persistence to fight for a greater good with high risk when your life can be numbered at any time, and what happens when something you have fought for so hard is negligible in someone else's eyes. Worst of all, your mere survival suggests to them that you were a collaborator.

I would have appreciated a note regarding what parts of the novel were embellished. As the author mentions in the foreword and I could see for myself, even those freed may not have lived to tell us their story.

I was not familiar with Francisco Boix’s story before picking up The Photographer of Mauthausen, but the graphic novel struck such chords that I doubt I will ever forget it.

The book offers insight into the lives of Mauthausen's political prisoners and the protocols designed to exterminate them through hard labor. The artistry of the panels chronicles these realities, and while I found some of the illustrations challenging to absorb, I could not help but appreciate the care and dedicated resolve Rubio, Colombo, and Landa exhibit in their handling of the material.

I am drawn to themes when reading, and more than once lost myself in the ideas this story provoked. I was intrigued by the manufacture of visual propaganda as explored in the early portion of the novel, but I was also moved by the narrative's approach to the transformative effects of desperation, survivor guilt, and the question of how to chronicle experience to individuals who did not share in it.

It would be a crime not to mention supporting characters like Mateu and Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, but their roles are very straightforward. Francisco represents something entirely different. He is a man forced to make hard choices, a man who lives in the shadow of death both before and after the war, and a man forced to navigate a world unready to hear his story. I could not recall seeing this sort of experience fictionalized before, and I liked how the layering of his realities forced me to consider both the handling of war crimes in the post-war years and the varied experiences of Holocaust victims.

Highly recommended.

The Photographer of Mathausen features realistic art and historical storytelling, working in a combination to share a powerful and memorable story. I most appreciated the way this creative team incorporated factual content, and even photographs, in the narrative. Highly recommended!