Art was not only used as a coping mechanism for those struggling with the brutality of life in the holocaust; for some, it was their only way to escape their own demise. The Belgian artist Fernand Van Horen, known more commonly by his pseudonym Horn, was arrested by the Gestapo on February 24, 1943. After gaining national success for his illustrations featured in the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, Van Horen had joined the Secret Army and joined the fight against Nazi occupation of Belgium. Alone in his cell, awaiting judgement from the Gestapo, he scavenged a few exercise books, a pencil, and a pencil sharpener, and used his “imagination and drawings” to “escape” from his prison. He was soon transported to Esterwegen, a camp in a swampy region
