This book, written in 1945, was rejected by European publishers for decades - sometimes because of its anti-Russian character, sometimes because of its anti-German nature. However, today the memories of the famous Polish activist and scientist Karolina Liantskoronska (1898–2002) about the events of the Second World War sound especially acute and relevant in the context of the military experience of Ukrainians in the 21st century.

Karolina Liantskoronska described in detail what she saw with her own eyes and what she had to do from the first days of the arrival of Soviet troops to Lviv in 1939, through interrogations by the NKVD and escape in German-occupied Krakow, to activities in the Polish resistance movement, staying in the Stanislavivska prisons and confrontations with Stanislaviv Gestapo chief Kruger, death sentence, imprisonment in Lviv and Berlin prisons, more than two years in Ravensbrück. But above all, her memoir reflects humanity in inhuman conditions, inner strength and dignity, and the fact that war is not only about death, but also about the boundless love of life.