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'We felt an urge to document what we had witnessed. If we who had experienced it, I reasoned, did not reveal the bitter truth, people simply would not believe the extent of the Nazi's evil. I wanted to share our life, the events and our struggle to survive.' Thomas Geve was born in 1929 in Germany. From 1933 onwards, he and his family felt the full force of Nazi persecution. After years of constant danger and hardship, he and his mother were arrested and transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in June 1943. 22 months later, Thomas was liberated, and after a period of recouperation was reunited with his father in London. After completing his studies and graduating with an engineering degree, Thomas moved to Israel in July 1950, raised a family and lived peacefully in retirement. When he was liberated at the age of 15, Thomas had survived the third concentration camp where he had been separated from his mother and left to fend for himself in the men's camp of Auschwitz I at the age of 13. On his eventual release, Thomas felt compelled to capture daily life in the death camps in more than 80 profoundly moving drawings. Infamous scenarios synonymous with this dark period of history were poignantly and accurately portrayed in simplistic detail, and for years Thomas continued to raise awareness about the Holocaust. Thomas experienced illness, witnessed physical brutality and murder of many inmates, and in his illustrated diary of his life and surroundings, recounted the quotidian work routine, cruelty of the guards, and his chronic hunger. 'As the women trudged passed, they hardly bothered to lift up their heads in greeting. Dressed in rags, their hair shorn and faces worn with worry and despair, they still had sufficient energy to shuffle along the dusty roadway. I reflected that weeks ago, these same women might have strolled along the streets of Budapest clad in elegant clothes, attracting the glance of many admirers...Trying to cheer them up, we bared our shave heads, waved our blue-white caps and forced a smile.' 32 of the naïve drawings are reproduced in colour. 332pp, paperback with other illus.