Power and Survival in KL Mauthausen: The Spanish Case

Abstract

The experience of Spaniards deported to Nazi camps has traditionally occupied a secondary position in historiography. Available evidence, however, indicates that the Spanish case evinced a uniqueness that has not yet been fully studied. This article proposes a transversal analysis by means of which to study the significance of the Spanish group deported to the Austrian camp of Mauthausen, measuring the degree to which they were integrated within the concentration camp hierarchy, the number of privileged positions occupied within the camp and their evolution over time. Similarly, the article explores the exceptional case of the Ebensee satellite camp, where the group of Spanish prisoners suffered an unusually low death rate.