Arrested by Nazis in 1944 after her political beliefs were reported, Rinser was imprisoned until the end of the war. She shared her captivity with a variety of women including Jehovah's Witnesses, abortionists, women who had had affairs with foreigners, thieves and other politically suspect prisoners. Her journal covers two months of her imprisonment, observing both herself and her companions, as they cope, or fail to cope, in their various ways, with prison.