Seven German men have been jailed for alleged crimes against the Third Reich. They are not Jews or gypsies or any of the other persecuted minorities. Yet, like them, the men await torture and possibly death. As each tells his story to his cell mates, we are given a rare look at Hitler's "other victims" - ordinary Germans caught up in the inescapable trap of Nazi terror.

Author Erich Friedrich was a brave German soldier. He won the Iron Cross for valor and was wounded on the Eastern Front. He was not a Nazi: He was fighting for his country and his comrades in arms. Yet despite his exceptional war record, Friedrich was arrested for not giving the Nazi salute and for making disparaging remarks about Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring. Charged with subversion, he was thrown into a cell in what had formerly been an insane asylum.

With him were a suspected spy, two accused deserters, a Jehovah's Witness, a draft dodger, and a leftist. To help pass the Christmas "holiday" and push back the terror of the unknown, each man took a turn telling why he was in the cell. Friedrich vowed to remember their remarkable stories forever.