Narrated by a Spanish photographer, Francisco Boix, The Photographer of Mauthausen, is a gripping look at the atrocities the Spanish experienced during WWII in the concentration camp of Mauthausen, Francisco volunteered for the French army and was arrested when the Nazis invaded and immediately ended up in a level 3 work camp- no one is meant to get out alive, The focus of this graphic novel is of Francisco working with other Spanish prisoners to get film negatives out of the camp to expose the Nazis. The artwork, drawn by Pedro Colombo, is so realistic and somber that you could almost envision what it may have looked like in these concentration camps. I highly recommend this graphic novel to anyone interested in WWII history as it is a story many would not be too familiar with.

**I was given a free digital copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

When I requested this book, I was under no delusions that the contents would be painful. this graphic novel depicts a photographer, Francisco Boix, who was captured and sent to Mauthausen during World War II. This is a heavy graphic novel. On every page, there's a reminder of the atrocities carried out at Nazi concentration camps. If you are not emotionally prepared to see such details, then perhaps this is not the book format for you. The message of this book is extremely important, as are the stories of the countless survivors who lived to tell their tales. My kudos to the illustrator and author for conveying this story to the world in a manner that is polished and full of dignity. It is fitting that Francisco Boix was a photographer and his story is now being portrayed in images. This may be a bold statement, but I believe Francisco would have liked that.

Such a wonderful story. I loved the illustrations. This graphic novel was informative. Great story for kids and adults a like.

I had not before read anything about Mauthsausen or #ThePhotographerofMauthausen, Francisco Boix. I was not familiar with the Spanish people who fled to France during WWII or the reasons surrounding these events. This graphic adaptation does an excellent job of informing readers about the historical elements--including sketching representations of the photographs themselves and reflecting the actual people and events at the time. The visual elements add to the story, again enhancing the historical elements while still remaining engaging, something that some historically based graphic novels sometimes lack.

That being said, it is, of course, a difficult and emotional read due to the horrors that went on inside Mauthausen--all the while being handled with care. I recommend this book to older readers, perhaps high school, but again handling the topic with the care. Many thanks to the publishers and #NetGalley for the advanced copy.

The Photographer of Mouthausen
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟬/𝟬𝟱/𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬
While I am continuing to post my regular content, the BLM movement is still going on. Please keep referring to my story and linktree to find ways to help out.✊🏻‼️
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This graphic novel, which is based off of true events, follows photographer Francisco Boix. He is a Spanish communist, who fled to France at the beginning of WWII only to be thrown into the intense prison camp of Mouthausen. The camp is extremely labor heavy, and when the Nazi’s realize Francisco’s occupation, they bring him in their secret photo room, where thousands and thousands of photos of dead prisoners are on display. Our main character quickly realizes if he risks his life, he can save several others by proving the Germans are committing war crimes, and nothing can stop him from telling people the truth, as he compiles a plan to smuggle several of these photos out of the dark room and into the hands of the Allies.😨
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This story is extremely heavy, and it’s also very graphic with the language used, as well as the pictures showing a lot of violence, so please keep that in mind going in. This is one of those stories that pretty much captured my attention from page one, and I just kept scrolling to see more of the story, not stopping until I finished it. It also is unlike any WWII book I have ever read, and really strays away from the normal WWII story. I truly could not look away from this harrowing tale of bravery, and I cannot recommend it enough.🥺
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What is a nonfiction graphic novel you’ve read and enjoyed? Let me know!💋
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Dm me to talk about all things book or writing related! I’ll be looking forward to it! —Em😌

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This graphic novel was fascinating. I loved the art work, it was very evocative of the emotions in the story. I had heard of the story of Mauthausen, but not the specifics. This story makes me want to watch the documentary about it, to find out more details.
I feel it is important for us to continue to learn about the Holocaust, and a GN is a fantastic way to get the tales out, especially one so well written and illustrated as this.

much thanks for the opportunity to read this.

🌟⭐ 8.25 stars out of 10 ⭐🌟
It's a great insight to learn more about one of Nazi's concentration camp, albeit the story feels a bit devoid of emotions.

I was lent the digital copy of this book from Netgalley in an exchange of honest review.

Keywords: comic, historical, Nazi, biography; trigger warning: murder and violence

The Photographer of Mauthausen tells a true story about Spain photographer named Francisco Boix who fled to France in 1941 and was caught in Nazi's concentration camp at Mauthausen. The book tells about the atrocities the thousands prisoner of wars have to face in the camp and how Francisco struggled to fight back.

The artstyle of the comic is done in quite detailed realistic style. It's not my preferred aesthetic but it serves just fine to deliver the story. The story itself has a lot of historical information that's educational to those with very limited knowledge of Nazi and the World War. The panel and transitions between scenes work quite well, but at times it feels too blocky and not really fluid. The story itself feels a bit too sterile, purely historical because the emotion it stirred is not strong enough. I was horrified by the atrocities but can't feel connection to the characters.

CONCLUSION
As educational read this book give me lots of insight into history and it's perfect. As a read itself, i personally think it's moderately good because its lack of emotional connection.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this great book.

I think this is a great way to teach people about this time in history who were not previously interested in it.
The illustrations are wonderful and definitely keep the readers attention.
The events unfold in a way that tells/shows the readers about the atrocities without being indelicate or gratuitous. It shows great respect for the people who endured this tragedy.
I do wish that some of the characters had been given a little more time and fleshed out a little more as I think it would only improve the readers connection to the story.

• The photographer of Mauthausen

So thia graphic novel got me hooked from the very 1st page. Honestly I had no idea going in the book and that made my experience a whole lot better. I loved this novel

It's about a photographer who ends up in Mauthausen in the time of nazis and world war. The novel brilliantly shows us the dirty side of nazis and the ruthlessness of them.

The time when he was in prison he discovered some stuff about nazis which made him adamant to want to leave the place trying to save as many people with him out of there as he can.

Honestly speaking if this novel would have been taken as an animated series or a series containing 5 episodes I would gladly watch it and love every moment of it.

This novel gripped and hooked me from start to end, how families broke, how lovers got departed, how people died, how many people got forgotten during the war time, this novel showed it all in such short pages.

Also the hint and bit of departed romance made the story plausible.

So I recommend this graphic novel to anyone who wanna dive in some war time cruelty without any proper knowledge of starting or end cause that's what will hit you hard

Also last but not the least kudos to the graphic artist. You did good.

• Character development- 4.5☆
• Story Plot- 4.5☆
• Side characters- 2.5☆
• Flow of the story- 3.8☆
• Overall - 4☆

This was heavy. This graphic novel is very graphic about the horrors of WW II. I think it was a necessary read but it is definitely suitable for children older than 16. I found the plot engaging and educational, definitely made me think how we each have our own truth in the time we live in (like how the main character was a communist and fighting for them).
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Francisco Boix was a Spanish communist in exile in France when he was captured by the Nazis and deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Based on true events, it shows the camp and explains the different types of prisoners and the work they were forced to do. Boix's job was to photograph the dead. The hardest part to get through was the description of all the ways the Nazi's tortured and killed (or forced suicide) the prisoners. After being liberated Boix is faced with an often indifferent press and governments while trying to tell his and the fellow prisoners' stories who have "better" photographic record and tales of horror than what happened in Mauthausen.

The end parts after the war and during the trials is the most compelling piece of the story to me. Boix risked his life and others to smuggle evidence out of the camp but is not given the time he believes he should be afforded to fully retell and explain what happened. In the sea of the overwhelming depravity and evil of the Nazi regime, his story at Mauthausen is just a drop.

The main issue I have with this book is the framing device and how the author portrays women (who for the most part did not arrive at Mauthausen until nearer to the end of the war and are largely excluded during the main part of the story). The author cannot seem to portray a woman without Boix trying to seduce or thinking of seducing them. I almost gave up reading the book because it starts with a framing device of Boix going to a town and asking a woman out who isn't interested, but of course she is really because she's a woman, and then gets unreasonable angry when he mentions meeting another woman (like all women do right? be sooo jealous that the random stranger who just asked you for a date maybe knows other women). Read it for yourself, but, for me, it was an extremely off-putting way to start the story. Maybe there is some other source material that this is based off of? Boix died in 1951 and this is the first I've heard of him so maybe he was well known as a ladies' man the author felt it was an important detail to include but... it's just a strange choice.

This is an outstanding graphic novel about the power of testimony and the forms that testimony can take. Crafted with detail and attention and compellingly written, this book is an important contribution to literature about resistance and organization in WWII concentration camps, as well as an illustration on the need for historical accuracy, evidence, and documentation. This should not only be very well-received among regular graphic novel readers, but also those interested in WWII, the history of photography and journalism, and current activism. There's some swearing and of course images of the atrocities of Mauthausen, but I'd recommend this nonetheless for readers ages 12 and up. I'd love to see it taught in schools and chosen by book clubs for meaningful discussion.

So many terrible things happened during WW2. It is vital that as many of stories of those that experienced it are remembered. This is as much for our sakes as it is for theirs.

This was a heartbreaking read. It tells the story of Francisco Boix and his time at Mauthausen, a Nazi concentration camp. The method of death preferred at Mauthausen was to work the prisoners to death.

I was not familiar with Francisco Boix before I read this book. He went through hell. A Spanish communist he was transported to Mauthausen. Because he was a trained photographer, he was given the “privilege” of assisting SS officer Paul Ricken. Ricken’s hobby was photographing the deaths of the prisoners in the camp. An accountant and administrator at the camp Ricken’s vileness is particularly notable. Here he comes across as a serial killer gathering trophies who is demented enough to believe what he is doing high art. Boix spurred on by the fact he faces certain death wants to save the negatives and use them as evidence of Nazi misdeeds.

His attempts at gathering evidence of Nazi crimes puts himself and the entire camp at risk. This bloody-minded determination causes him to do things that cause rifts between himself and every other prisoner in the camp. This is a book full of tragic moments. There is a courtroom scene at the end of the book that moved me to tears at the utter unfairness of it all.

It says a lot that The Photographer of Mauthausen reminded me of films like Schindler’s List and The Great Escape. It’s not entirely like either of those. Still, it manages to portray the causal workmanlike cruelty of the Nazi and the sense of danger that prisoners attempting to something daring equally well.

Rubio does a truly admirable job of keeping you at the edge of your seat, fearful at what fate beholds Boix and his allies at the turn of every page. Colombo’s and Landa’s art is impressive. So much relies on the eyes of the characters, their hopes and fears, the need to hide their true feelings. Gory scenes are placed alongside intimate conversations, and it all just works. In lesser hands such a juxtaposition might not have. The Photographer of Mauthausen is a great accomplishment. There are a lot of graphic novels about WW2 very few of them are as good as this.

**I received and voluntarily read an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Absolutely heartbreaking to read, but I'm glad I did. It's a short read, but I think, due to the subject matter, that works best.

The illustrations and colors help to tell the story well, although at times the font chosen for the text was a little difficult to read.

We know of a place called Auschwitz, one of the six camps created by the Nazis purely for the purpose of extermination. Dachau outside Munich was the first mass internment camp. You see, the Nazis were the perfect definition of “method to madness”. There were various types of camps and sub-camps, filled largely based on the fate that awaited their occupants.

Mauthausen in Upper Austria was a camp where extermination through labour was the preferred method of murder. Unlike other camps, it was also home largely to the intelligentsia.

Among the prisoners at Mauthausen was an engineer called Simon Wiesenthal, who would make a name for himself hunting down Nazis in the post-War world. A lesser-known prisoner was the Spaniard Francesc Boix, a Communist who had been forced to flee his homeland after Franco’s victory and had taken refuge in France, which soon fell into German hands. It is Boix’s story that the comic The Photographer of Mauthausen seeks to tell.

Boix was a photographer during the Spanish Civil War and at Mauthausen, he was put to work developing photographs of the camp and the events taking place inside it for the Nazis. Boix would, in his time at the lab in Mauthausen, be a pivotal part of the smuggling out of three thousand negatives detailing the horrors of the camp.

The comic is well-written, in particular the second scene where the reader accompanies Boix to the camp, and covers all parts of Boix’s life at and just after Mauthausen in a manner that is compelling, while still doing justice and being respectful of the fact that it is, at the end of the day, about a person’s life in a concentration camp. What I didn’t like was the opening, nor the attempt of writer Salva Rubio to draw us emotionally closer to Boix through his desire to reunite with his sister. It felt clumsy. The narrative also doesn’t really give you a sense of time (Boix was imprisoned for four years) apart from just drop dates here and there.
Much of the flow of the comic is thanks to illustrator Pedro J. Colombo and colourist Aintzaine Landa, whose panels are to be marvelled at. The format is naturally dependent on their skill, and they shine through. Colombo is especially terrific in his recreation of Mauthausen and his depiction of faces, though I do wonder why he didn’t take greater care to portray the fatigue of the camps over a period of time. Landa’s distinct palettes in depicting the world of the camp and that which is outside it also stand out. Cold greys and murky browns fill page upon page, and the sudden appearance of a bright green or a pleasant yellow is as much a stylistic choice as one of appreciating just what the camps were.

The Photographer of Mauthausen stumbles along the way but does a fair job in telling the story of Francesc Boix. The greater win here is how it succeeds in making part of the Holocaust accessible without trying to alter history.

I was able to view a copy of the book pre-release thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Dead Reckoning in exchange for a review.

This was my 6th Holocaust related book. Like every other German Holocaust related book, this book is also going to haunt you down, and 'How?', by it's devasted graphics and illustrations on the lives of prisoners of Mauthausen.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the e-Arc in exchange of an honest review.

The Photographer of Mauthausen is a graphic novel adaptation of the life of Francisco Boix – a man I didn’t know anything about prior to picking up this work, but about whom I wish to know more now that I finished it. The comic obviously comes with a plethora of content warnings: violence and torture, concentration camps, nudity and war being the ones I can think of. I’d recommend it even if some of these topics disturb you. The story is well-told – the artwork fits the dark and somber atmosphere and the narrative manages to maintain a feeling of hope despite the rather grim reality it portrays. It is obvious a lot of research went in the making of this comic and it shows in the details incorporated in it. My only issue with the story is that it is told in a rather concise fashion – over the span of 100 or so pages. Probably because of that I wasn’t as immersed as I wanted. In the future I’ll be looking for non-fiction resources on Boix because this work really did spark my curiosity.

"This is a dramatic retelling of true events in the life of Francisco Boix, a Spanish press photographer and communist who fled to France at the beginning of World War II. But there, he found himself handed over by the French to the Nazis, who sent him to the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp, where he spent the war among thousands of other Spaniards and other prisoners."

Francisco's story and the story of those in Mauthausen Camp broke my heart and filled me with rage. These stories are being told and NEED to be told so history does not repeat itself. While many of us knew of the Jewish people in the camps, how many of us knew about Communists? This is just one story of thousands that need to be told. Francisco risks not just his life but that of his comrades to smuggle the negatives showing the brutality being done to them. A powerful graphic novel that anyone interested in WWII history should read. The artwork is amazing with dark hues and shadows that lend the pages gravitas and make Francisco's time in Mauthausen seem much more terrifying.

When I was a teen (many, many years ago) they used to have comic adaptations of historical events and great moments in history. They were mostly very G-rated, family friendly offerings aimed at educating young minds. This is like the grown up version of those books.

Mauthausen concentration camp was a horrific place, one of the worst camps of WW II, so it stands to reason that this book is a bit grim. Many of the artistic images are disturbing even in illustrated form. Still, it gives insight into how even the darkest of times can inspire courage and, more importantly, hope.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

'The Photographer of Mauthausen' is a graphic novel that puts into images an horrific passage of history, but does that through the lens of a somehow intimate story regarding Francisco, (or François, Paco) a catalan photographer that was sent to the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp. Once there, he met other spaniards and tried to prove all the crimes against humanity made by the nazis. The plan was the following: get the negatives of the macabre photos Francisco was ordered to take and make them known to the world.

There have been a lot of stories related to Nazi Germany and World War II, but The Photographer of Mauthausen manages to shine a light over a part of the story that may not be as known.
The art plays a really big role in this as well, because it is sober enough to feel authentic and crude enough to describe the grotesque without hesitation.
The script by Salva Rubio deserves praise as well. Based, at least partially, on a biography, manages to get the story along and lets the reader not to get lost on the horror but keep clinging to hope. Not in what we know is one of the most horrific moments in human history, but in the main character and his actions.

I highly recommend it.

***ARC sent by NetGalley for an honest review.