The author was a chemist in Losonc. Anti-Jewish laws were introduced in 1938, but vicious persecution did not start before spring 1940.

In the course of wholesale recruiting for forced labour author was sent to Tokay, where 15,000 Jews had to do very heavy, but completely useless work under inhuman conditions and bestial treatment. When German troups occupied Hungary in March 1944, practically all Jewish men were sent to forced labour and the author came to Miskolc, under the command of the worst elements of the Hungarian army who revelled in sadistic treatment of their charges, particularly the orthodox Jews. In the course of May the aged, women and children who had been left behind were driven into Ghettos. The author saw the long trails of unhappy people staggering into the newly established Ghetto in Miskolc and later, having been robbed of their last belongings, into the inferno of the collecting camp in a disused brick factory, the departure station for Auschwitz. Deportations from other Hungarian areas took place simultaneously, and Miskolc being an important railway junction, the trains frequently shunted there, and the author witnessed the heartrending plight of the deportees clamouring for air, food and water.

The author and his fellow-prisoners tried to succour them, but the merciless Hungarian military police prevented this. In July the slave labourers were drafted into so-called “Sturm-Kompanien” for pioneer work at the front. In over-crowded supply trains they were sent into Poland; from Delatyn they had to march for several days and found the frontier in a state of retreat. They had to carry heavy military equipment back across the Carpathian mountains and finally halted at Beregszaz and Marmarossziget - once flourishing places, now completely desolate. The synagogues were storage places for confiscated Jewish chattels. The failure of President Horthy to make a separate peace resulted in riots, and the author saw the synagogues and state property looted. On the resumption of the retreat many of the non-Jewish guards deserted, and the author escaped together with 5 others. However, the chaos on the roads, the cold weather and the complete lack of food and money reduced them to a state of utter exhaustion. One of them died, and the others gave themselves up to the Military Police in Dunaszerdahely.

They were taken to a collecting camp in Gyoer - the worst of any the author has known. Conditions there still worsened, when the “Pfeiikreuzler” rounded up the remaining Jews and drove them on the roads towards Vienna. Those who were not shot or died en route, were herded into the camp. After a few weeks in “this hell”, the author had to proceed with others to Szombathely, in the wake of the death march of thousands of Jews whose corpses, graves and belongings lined the route. At the Austrian frontier they had to dig fortifications, but soon they were rushed further west. After 21 days of marching they reached Graz and were taken to the ill-famed Mauthausen camp. When author was driven to yet another place - Guenskirchen - American troups liberated him on 4 May 1958.