This book was written by a Latvian man who was given an ultimatum by Nazi forces: fight in the SS or go to a concentration camp. People automatically assume that everyone who fought for the Nazi regime were Nazis at heart, or otherwise racist and cruel people, but in many instances, people found themselves between a rock and a hard place. I can completely understand why one would make the choice of risking it on the front line as opposed to a concentration camp. The author of this book relates his experiences with his hometown being overran by Nazis and his time fighting for them on the Eastern Front. He was wounded multiple times and had some really harrowing experiences. I found this book to be pretty moving and also interesting since it offered a perspective different than the mostly Allied forced related books I typically find.