This rare account from a survivor of Gypsy concentration camps during World War II relates how German Sinto Walter Winter was discharged from the German navy in 1943 on racial grounds and was deported to Auschwitz with his brother and sister. The atrocities he witnessed, including the death of his wife and unborn child, are told in stark, unflinching detail. As well as reporting horrific persecutions, Winter recalls moments of personal bravery in which he beat up an SS guard and confronted the notorious Dr. Mengele to request extra rations for starving Sinti children on his block. As the Gypsy culture is generally predisposed not to dwell on the past, this memoir tells a rare story infused with a quiet hopefulness that suggests Winter retained his spirit, courage, and sense of fairness in the face of unspeakable cruelty.