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Concentration Camp Prisoners


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Postcard Sent from Mauthausen Concentration Camp by a Spanish Prisoner

Postcard sent from Mauthausen from Josep Miret i Muste
Courtesy of the Museum of Catalan History in Barcelona

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. 

For more details on the Nazis’ vision for a new German "national community," see the primary source collections in the Belonging and Exclusion: Reshaping Society under Nazi Rule section of Experiencing History.

For more information about Spanish political prisoners deported to Mauthausen, see Sara Brenneis, Spaniards in Mauthausen (Cambridge University Press, 2018); and David W. Pike, Spaniards in the Holocaust: Mauthausen, the Horror on the Danube (New York: Routledge, 2000).

Military forces led by General Francisco Franco attempted a coup d’état against the Second Spanish Republic in 1936, which sparked the Spanish Civil War between the "Nationalists" and supporters of the Republic—known as "Republicans." After an alliance was established between Franco and Hitler, the Nazi regime began providing important military aid to the Nationalist forces during the war. The defeat of the Second Republic marked the end of the war, and an authoritarian regime was established under Franco, lasting until 1975. For more information about the Spanish Civil War, see Helen Graham, The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2005). 

Communists of any nationality were heavily persecuted by the Nazis, as they were considered political enemies and a threat to Germany’s security. For more information, visit the USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia entry, What Groups of People did the Nazis Target? See also the related item in Experiencing History, Death Certificate for Fritz Dressel.

For more information about his arrest, access the Special Section of the Appeals Court of Paris in the USHMM Collections. Records about Josep Miret i Musté (Z/4/91, dossier n. 610. FRAN_0251_136945 and 136946).

Spanish Republicans were often called "Reds" ("Rojos") because of an association with the Communist Party. The category of "Rotspanier" combined that with their nationality: "Red Spaniard." For more on prisoner markings, see the related item in Experiencing History, Chart of Prisoner Markings.

The "Nacht und Nebel" decree was issued by Hitler in December of 1941. The decree allowed Nazi authorities to arrest and prosecute those suspected of "endangering German security" through special courts, thereby circumventing military courts and other legal conventions. It was mainly used against resistance movements in German-occupied territories. For more, see Sara J. Brenneis, "Moral Ambiguity in Mauthausen: Mercè Rodoreda's 'Nit i Boira,'" Letras Femeninas 38, no. 2 (2012): 217–29.

In some cases, they were able to keep duplicates of records and photographs that would become key evidence during the trials after the war. A Spanish prisoner named Francesc Boix, sometimes referred to as "the photographer of Mauthausen," worked as an assistant in the photography department of the camp administration. He stole photographic negatives that later provided important evidence at the Nuremberg Trials

Josep and other prisoners from the Catalonia region of Spain were forbidden by Nazi and Francoist censors to write to their families in their native language of Catalan. 

 

Instructions in German and in Spanish also specify the writing limitations: "No more than 25 words, only of personal and familial nature."

For more information about solidarity among Spanish prisoners in Mauthausen and their relationship with other prisoners, see "Spaniards Seen by Others," in D. W. Pike, Spaniards in the Holocaust (New York: Routledge, 2000), 70–73. 

To learn more about Floridsdorf (officially named Wien-Floridsdorf) and other subcamps of Mauthausen, see The USHMM Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945, Vol I: Early Camps, Youth Camps, and Concentration Camps and Subcamps under the SS-Business Administration Main Office, edited by Geoffrey P. Megargee (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009), 958.

 

For more details on the fates of the estimated 7,187 Spanish prisoners who entered the Mauthausen complex between 1940 and 1945, see Sara Brenneis, Spaniards in Mauthausen (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 17. 

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[Front]

To: Magdalena Miret Musté
Place of Destination: Valls (Tarragona)
Street: Baldrich, n. 13
Country: Spain

Stamp: Approved. K.L.M. (Konzentrationslager Mauthausen)

In handwriting, lower right corner: Received on March 11. Answered on the 13 of the same [month].

[Lower Left corner]

Sender:

Name and last name: Josep Castells Porta

Number of the prisoner: 3888 / BL Swch

Name of the camp: Camp of Mauthausen, Upper Danube, Germany

[Back]

Instructions for the correspondence of prisoners.

1. The prisoner is allowed to write once every six weeks and receive an answer. (No more than 25 words, family, and personal matters only). In the response letter it is allowed to include stamps (International Reply Coupon).

2. It is prohibited to include pictures in the shipping of packages sent to the prisoners.

The Camp Commander

[Handwriting]

Dear mother: My most burning desire is that you and the other family [members] find yourselves in good condition. My health and situation could not be better, but they will be [even better] when I can hug you in my arms and tell you how the distance makes my affection grow. Greetings to uncle Ramon and his [family]. Kisses and hugs for everyone. Trust in the future. Yours,

Josep Castells

Archival Information for This Item

Source (Credit)
Courtesy of the Museum of Catalan History in Barcelona
Date Created
February 1944
Author / Creator
Josep Miret i Musté
Language(s)
French
German
Spanish
Location
Mauthausen, Germany (historical)
Reference Location
Valls, Spain
Document Type Letter
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