A Life Shaped by Shadows and Light Born in Nienburg, Ernst Thoms began his path not with a brush in hand, but through the practical labor of a painter's apprenticeship between 1911 and 1914. This early training grounded him in the physical reality of his craft before the tides of history pulled him away. The onset of World War I brought him into military service, leading to a long, difficult period as a prisoner of war in England. For…