K. L. Reich

Francesc and Emili, two ex republican soldiers in the Spanish Civil War who are now in the French army, get captured by Nazi troops. They, along with other Spanish former fighters, are deported to Mauthausen concentration camp, where their nightmare begins the terrible experience that turns them into witnesses and victims of the so-called International of Pain. The story focuses on Emili, who manages to survive by making pornographic drawings for the SS. Through him we see the inner workings of the camp: the corrupt network of kapos, the different classes of prisoners, the horrific extermination system, the malnutrition the inhumanity of one of the most tragic chapters of our history. Author Amat-Piniella wrote this novel, published for the first time in 1963, based on his experiences as a prisoner for nearly five years in different Nazi concentration camps. His objective was to carry on the memory of the thousands of Spaniards interned in camps."

Joaquim Amat-Piniella was a writer and a politician who fought in the Spanish Civil War. He later moved to France, where he was interned at concentration camps beginning in 1940, eventually being deported by the Germans to Mauthausen. He survived in the camp until his liberation in 1945. His books in Catalan include ＂Ombres al calidoscopi,＂ ＂La pau a casa,＂ ＂Retaule en gris,＂ ＂La ribera deserta,＂ and ＂Roda de solitaris,＂ among others. Ignacio Martinez de Pison is a writer and a screenwriter. He is the author of a dozen books, including the novel ＂La buena reputacion.＂＂