The first part of the book, published a few years ago in Polish under the title Refren kolczastego drutu (A barbed wire refrain). It describes the camp fate of August Kowalczyk, from the moment he was imprisoned in Auschwitz concentration camp until his dramatic escape from the Penal Company during one of the best known mutinies in the history of the camp.

August Kowalczyk is a Polish theater, film and television actor. He was born in 1921. During World War II he wanted to join the Polish Army in France, but was caught in Slovakia and deported to KL Auschwitz in December 1941. His inmate number was 6804. At the camp he was employed at unloading construction materials, building a Buna-Werke chemical plant, dismantling the bombed synagogue in Oświęcim and houses of expelled Poles in a nearby village of Monowice. In May 1942 he was sent to a penal company for contacting the local civilians from Oświęcim. In June 1942 he escaped from the camp during the so called rebellion of the penal company. He fought at the ranks of the Home Army until the end of the war. On November 9, 1945, he made his theater debut. In the years 1962-1966 he was a director of the Adam Mickiewicz Theater in Częstochowa and in the years 1968-1981 a director of the Polish Theater in Warsaw.