Ironic drawing celebrating VE day by a Hungarian concentration camp survivor

Cartoonlike drawing of a hand with two fingers, one dripping blood and missing the top half, raised in the V for Victory sign. It was drawn by Ernu Homanye-Grytze on May 8, 1945, VE (Victory in Europe) Day, the day the Allies accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The coloring was added in 1946. Homanye-Grytze was a self taught artist from Hungary with moved to Paris. In September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and World War II began. In June 1940, the Germans occupied France. Around this time, Homanye-Grytze returned to Hungary. Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944. At the end of the war, Homanye-Grytze, 36, was liberated from a concentration camp. Ernu Homanye-Grytze was born in 1909 in Hungary. His youth was disrupted by World War I (1914-1918.) His family was constantly on the move and life was desperate. He grew up with little education. He would sketch on odd bits of available paper and showed artistic skill at an early age. Ernu later received some training at various European schools. Ernu eventually opened a studio in Paris. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, he returned to Hungary. He was imprisoned in a concentration camp, where he continued to create art with makeshift tools. The war ended when Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. Ernu continued to work as an artist, and expressed the anger and embitterance causeded by his experiences in his work. No restrictions on access