Survival in a Nazi Concentration Camp: The Spanish Prisoners of Mauthausen.

Analysis of the extent to which higher social class (along with other demographic variables) was an advantage for Spanish prisoners at the Mauthausen concentration camp advances the study of the determinants of survival in contexts of indiscriminate violence. Use of Cox event-history models, based o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 351 - 383
Main Authors: Domènech, Jordi, Fernández, Juan Jesús
Format: Article
Published: MIT Press Winter2022
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:Analysis of the extent to which higher social class (along with other demographic variables) was an advantage for Spanish prisoners at the Mauthausen concentration camp advances the study of the determinants of survival in contexts of indiscriminate violence. Use of Cox event-history models, based on detailed information collected by well-placed Spaniards at the camp, reveals that individuals from higher social classes who filled administrative positions at Mauthausen were prominent in support networks and had a good command of the German language were more likely to survive. The risk of death was highest among unskilled agricultural workers, followed by unskilled non-agricultural workers.