As in most memoirs of political detention, the book follows the classic structure of arrest, interrogation under torture,
show trial, sentencing, temporary prison, and the final destination of a prison or labor camp. In 1959, a friend and former university colleague, Dumitru Filip, is criticized during a
Workers Youth Union meeting. In response, he hands over to the secret police a number of letters, written by those who criticized him and not only, some years old, in which they spoke about the communist abuse during collectivization, the lying, ongoing propaganda and intellectual quality of the communist officials. Pavlovici is arrested and taken to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs for cross-examination (the inquisitor's name was Constantin Voicu). He is brutally beaten during the investigation, and after a show trial held on 5 June 1959, he receives a 5-year sentence under the charge of "conspiracy against the communist social order". The first destination is
Salcia labor camp, where he arrives at the beginning of September 1959. Here, the prisoners had to raise a dam that was supposed to protect the
Great Brăila Island – where massive swamp drains were performed in order to make the terrain tillable – from floodings caused by the
Danube. The dam was started from both Salcia and
Stoenești labor camp and the workers were supposed to meet in the middle. In Spring 1962, Pavlovici is moved to Strâmba labor camp, and from here – because of the camp being flooded – in the
Danube Delta, on the
Chilia branch at the sea shore. Here, they were kept on two barges, and their task was similar to the one at Salcia, to raise a dam that would protect land from floods. Later the same year, he is moved to
Grindu working site, a satellite of
Periprava labor camp, where prisoners spent the winter transporting wood from the
Letea Forest. In summer of 1963, there was a triage of former
typhoid fever sufferings and Pavlovici falsely reports he had the disease before incarceration, counting on the fact that the camp officials were not able to check this out, due to lack of proper medical equipment. This group was later moved to
Gherla Prison, where Pavlovici would spend the remaining prison time, until his liberation, on 31 January 1964. When building the Great Island dam, detainees had to excavate and transport of soil per day, sometimes from hundred of meters away. Heat, cold, beatings, hunger, diseases, exhaustion, and humiliation were constant. In November and December 1959, approximately 60 people died each month at Salcia. During winter, when quotes cannot be attained, they are beaten by the guards with sticks over the bottom. Many of the inmates are intellectuals, teachers, priests, doctors. To help pass the time when working was not possible, many held conferences in the cells, sharing their teachings while some were listening sitting on the bucket. One day, being too sick for work, Pavlovici refuses to leave the prisoner barracks. Assistance does not arrive from the camp hospital, but from a camp guard. ==See also==