This important work focuses on the experience of the large Spanish contingent within the Mauthausen concentration camp, one of the least known but most terrible camps in Nazi Germany. Refugees from the repercussions of the Civil War, 7,000 Spanish Republicans were arrested in France by the invading Nazis in the collapse of 1940. A microcosm of the experience of national prisoner communities, their story possesses a unique historical value. No other national group succeeded in placing its members in all the key clerical positions in the SS administration, and no other group managed to hide and save all its basic records.Vilified by Franco and condemned by Hitler, their story makes an outstanding contribution to the literature of the holocaust.
Author(s): David Wing Pike
Edition: 1
Year: 2000
Language: English
Pages: 480
Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
List of plates......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 17
Abbreviations, acronyms, and portmanteau words......Page 21
Comparative ranks......Page 25
Part I The SS archipelago......Page 26
1 Captives in the Channel Islands......Page 27
2 Deported to the Stalags......Page 33
3 The Spaniards and the KZ universe......Page 35
4 Classification and stratification......Page 38
5 Opposing programmes......Page 42
6 Everyday life in the KZ......Page 46
7 Oranienburg, Buchenwald and Mauthausen compared......Page 52
8 The survival of the evidence......Page 55
Part II Mauthausen, Category Three......Page 65
1 The arrival......Page 67
2 The outer circle......Page 73
3 The inner circle......Page 81
4 The first Spanish contingents......Page 84
5 International friction and the brothel......Page 89
6 The Spaniards as seen by others......Page 95
7 The paradox of entertainment......Page 99
8 The Revier, antechamber of death......Page 103
9 The quarry and the 186 steps......Page 109
10 Local Kommandos......Page 113
11 The Nebenlager......Page 115
12 Schloss Hartheim and the mobile gas chamber......Page 128
13 Escape and the SS response......Page 130
Part III Survival......Page 137
1 The nucleus of a resistance......Page 138
2 A Spaniard enters the Central Administration Office......Page 142
3 A Spaniard enters the photo lab......Page 148
4 Franco’s consulate in Vienna......Page 158
5 A marriage at Auschwitz......Page 162
6 Holy Night......Page 164
7 A visit to Melk......Page 169
8 An international committee forms......Page 171
9 Atrocities against Allied prisoners......Page 175
10 The Resistance forms a military branch......Page 179
11 Reds and Blues replace the Greens and Blacks......Page 184
12 Incidents in the photo lab......Page 187
13 The Soviet break-out from the Death Block......Page 192
14 Mauthausen as the terminus of evacuation......Page 198
15 Growing fears of a general massacre......Page 205
16 The evacuation of the last Nebenlager......Page 212
17 The photos and the Poschacher boys......Page 217
18 The departure of the SS......Page 221
Part IV Liberation......Page 228
1 The Soviet assault from the east......Page 229
2 The American assault from the west......Page 235
3 The liberation of Gusen and Mauthausen......Page 243
4 The night of 5–6 May......Page 249
5 The return of the Americans to Mauthausen......Page 262
6 Ebensee......Page 272
7 The American–Soviet link-up......Page 277
8 The final German surrender......Page 280
9 Punishment and impunity for the SS criminals......Page 287
Epilogue......Page 299
Notes......Page 317
Guide to rank abbreviations......Page 401
Annex II......Page 419
Annex III......Page 420
Annex IV......Page 421
Annex V......Page 423
Annex VI......Page 424
Annex VII......Page 426
Annex VIII......Page 428
2 Documents......Page 430
B Interviews......Page 431
C Video Films......Page 432
2 Secondary sources......Page 433
Index......Page 440
