Marek Stromer was born in 1910 in Kamionka-Strumilowa, Poland. His diary-memoir written in April and May of 1944 describes his experiences from May 1941, on the eve of the Nazi conquest, through May 1944. He recounts the invasion of his hometown, the period he spent in the Lemberg ghetto, his stay in the Janowska forced-labor camp, and his escape from a moving train en route to the Bełżec death camp. Stromer remained in hiding for over a year. He eventually emigrated to the U.S.