The Nazi concentration camp system was designed to isolate and exclude people whom the Nazis considered unfit to belong to the German “national community” (“Volksgemeinschaft”)—especially those they saw as a threat to Germany’s security.1 That was the case for thousands of Spanish political prisoners—mostly Communists and Anarchists—who were deported to concentration camps from areas occupied by German forces during World War II. This postcard was sent from the Mauthausen concentration camp to Spain by one of these prisoners, a man from Barcelona named Josep Miret i Musté.2
At the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Josep was one of thousands of refugees who fled from Spain to France to escape the regime of Francisco Franco.3 Like many other Spanish refugees with ties to Communist groups, Josep joined the Communist resistance movement in Paris. After German forces invaded and occupied France in the spring of 1940, German authorities began to arrest, imprison, and kill Spanish refugees involved in Communist resistance cells.4
Nazi authorities arrested and deported Miret i Musté to Mauthausen in 1942 for his role as a leader in the French Communist resistance.5 Like other prisoners at Nazi camps, Josep was categorized according to Nazi ideas about race, nationality, sexuality, and political ideology. These categories greatly influenced the experiences of prisoners in concentration camps and affected their chances of survival. Josep was labeled a “Rotspanier” (“Red Spaniard”).6 He was also classified as a “Nacht und Nebel” prisoner (“Night and Fog,” or “NN”), a category reserved for those considered to be a threat to German security.7
Unlike most prisoners, Spanish political prisoners in Mauthausen were often spared hard labor and instead assigned to do jobs within the camp administration (working as barbers or photographers, or in food distribution and postal services). These positions afforded them certain privileges.8 For instance, Spanish inmates in Mauthausen could send letters to their families every six weeks—a privilege extremely rare for concentration camp prisoners. Spanish prisoners were even permitted to write in Spanish, while most other inmates were allowed to write only in German.9
Camp authorities strictly censored prisoners’ letters from Mauthausen.10 The stamp in the front’s upper left corner indicates approval by German authorities, as well as the letter’s origin: “Approved. Concentration Camp of Mauthausen” (German: "Geprüft. KLM"). Although “NN” prisoners were not allowed to send or receive letters, other prisoners would sometimes let them use their names so they could write to their families. Miret i Musté wrote to his mother in Tarragona in February of 1944, letting her know that he was alive: “My situation and health could not be better, but they will be when I can hug you again.” He signed the postcard with another prisoner’s name, Josep Castells.11
Not long after writing this postcard, Josep Miret i Musté was transferred to a nearby subcamp of Mauthausen called Floridsdorf.12 He was among the nearly 5,000 Spanish prisoners of the Mauthausen camp complex who did not survive the war.13 Postwar records indicate that Miret i Musté was murdered by the SS in November 1944.