An ordinary boy, twenty-two-year-old Josef Sramek was working at a textile distribution company before he was drafted into the Austrian military in 1914 and forced to go to war. When he was captured by the enemy, he had to suffer death marches and endure concentration camps in Serbia, Albania, Italy, and France, but against all odds, he managed to survive, return home, and resume his life. Throughout his ordeal he kept a diary which is now being published to maintain his memories and remind future generations of the atrocities and absurdities that come about in war.