CLOSURE: Central Library will be closed Tuesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 25, while emergency repairs are made to the building’s cooling system. We expect to reopen Monday, July 27. Click for more details on holds, program schedules, and returns during the closure. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

Book

The boy who drew Auschwitz : a powerful true story of hope and survival

Call Number

  • 940.5318 G396 (CEN, OSH)

Browse similar titles by call number

Edition

First U.S. edition.

Publication Information

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2021]

Physical Description

303 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), map ; 24 cm

Uniform Title

Youth in chains

Summary

An inspiring true story of hope and survival, this is the testimony of a boy who was imprisoned in Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald and recorded his experiences through words and color drawings. In June 1943, after long years of hardship and persecution, thirteen-year-old Thomas Geve and his mother were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Separated upon arrival, he was left to fend for himself in the men?s camp of Auschwitz I. During 22 harsh months in three camps, Thomas experienced and witnessed the cruel and inhumane world of Nazi concentration and death camps. Nonetheless, he never gave up the will to live. Miraculously, he survived and was liberated from Buchenwald at the age of fifteen. While still in the camp and too weak to leave, Thomas felt a compelling need to document it all, and drew over eighty drawings, all portrayed in simple yet poignant detail with extraordinary accuracy. He not only shared the infamous scenes, but also the day-to-day events of life in the camps, alongside inmates' manifestations of humanity, support and friendship. To honor his lost friends and the millions of silenced victims of the Holocaust, in the years following the war, Thomas put his story into words. Despite the evil of the camps, his account provides a striking affirmation of life. The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz, accompanied with 56 of his color illustrations, is the unique testimony of young Thomas and his quest for a brighter tomorrow.

Notes

"Originally published as Youth in Chains in 1958 and Guns & Barbed Wire in 1987"--Title page verso.

Contents

  • Foreword
  • Introduction
  • Prologue: an unknown future, Berlin 1939
  • Stettin and Beuthen 1929-39
  • Berlin 1939-40
  • Berlin 1941-2
  • Liquidation 1943
  • Auschwitz-Birkenau
  • Quarantine
  • Bricklaying school
  • Surviving
  • Exhaustion
  • Desperation
  • Kindness among chaos
  • A veteran now
  • The wind of change
  • Retreat from liberty
  • Gross-Rosen camp
  • Evacuation
  • Buchenwald camp
  • Free at last
  • Epilogue.

Subjects

Added Authors

Charles Inglefield