The Photographer of Mauthausen
by Written by Salva Rubio; Drawn by Pedro J. Colombo; Colored by Aintzane Landa

Dead Reckoning
Comics & Graphic Novels | History
Pub Date 11 Nov 2020   

Thanks to Netgally for providing the ARC.

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 is 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.