Event Title
Panel IV: “Representations of Mauthausen at the Crossroads of Spanish Memory”
Abstract
Over 7,000 Spaniards were captured as political prisoners and held in the Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen between 1940 and 1945; some 5,000 of them died in the camp. Since its liberation in 1945, Mauthausen has continued to resonate as a symbol of Spain’s historical memory – or lack thereof – of its role in World War II through a body of memoirs, documentary films and novels authored by survivors and non-survivors alike. In this presentation, in addition to providing a historical background of Spaniards in the camp, I will discuss the variety of written and cinematic representations of the Spanish experience of Mauthausen. In their evolution over the decades, these representations have become indicative of the cultural and political relevance of the Mauthausen of 1940-45 in questions of historical memory in the Spain of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries.
Presenter Bio(s)
Sara Brenneis (co-organizer) is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Amherst College, where she specializes in contemporary Iberian film, literature and culture. Her research and publications focus on the overlaps between fiction and history in Spanish literature and film since the death of Franco. She is currently investigating the role of Mauthausen, the Nazi concentration camp where thousands of Spaniards died during World War II, in present-day discussions of Spain’s historical memory.
Location
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Institute for Holocaust, Genocide and Memory Studies
Start Date
15-10-2011 10:00 AM
End Date
15-10-2011 10:45 AM
Panel IV: “Representations of Mauthausen at the Crossroads of Spanish Memory”
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Institute for Holocaust, Genocide and Memory Studies
Over 7,000 Spaniards were captured as political prisoners and held in the Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen between 1940 and 1945; some 5,000 of them died in the camp. Since its liberation in 1945, Mauthausen has continued to resonate as a symbol of Spain’s historical memory – or lack thereof – of its role in World War II through a body of memoirs, documentary films and novels authored by survivors and non-survivors alike. In this presentation, in addition to providing a historical background of Spaniards in the camp, I will discuss the variety of written and cinematic representations of the Spanish experience of Mauthausen. In their evolution over the decades, these representations have become indicative of the cultural and political relevance of the Mauthausen of 1940-45 in questions of historical memory in the Spain of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries.