Original story / I boxed in Mauthausen - Marca

Republican Segundo Espallargas, known as Paulino, saved his life by boxing in Mauthausen, the concentration camp where the Nazis murdered 90,000 people. "Before the fights, the SS told me: 'If you lose, you go to the crematorium,'" he recalled. It was hell: "A kapo could hit you and kill you; that's what extermination was like." But no one could beat him in the ring, even though the Germans pitted him against fearsome opponents. "He fought someone who had killed more than one deportee with his fists," says Mariano Constante, another survivor. Through boxing, Paulino earned profits that he used to save other prisoners. "He was a good guy and helped as much as he could. He stole food and distributed it to other Spaniards," notes Ramiro Santisteban. One of those men who survived thanks to him, Georges Gardebois, would return the favor some time later. After his release, Paulino continued boxing, but he quit for love. Interviews, testimonies, and documents make up the report.