The prominent Austrian publicist Nikolaus Hovorka, who had already made the Nazis his enemy in 1932 as the editor of the book "Intermezzo Hitler," experienced the Nazi era from two different perspectives: arrested for political reasons in 1938, he was interned in the concentration camps of Dachau and Mauthausen for more than four years before being "released" into the Wehrmacht in 1942. Hovorka reflected on both his time in the concentration camps and his service as a soldier in numerous letters, the preservation of which is considered a remarkable stroke of luck. The experiences in the camps form the often-overlooked reference framework for his perceptions and actions. In Mauthausen, Hovorka was among the "privileged" and thus operated in the so-called gray zone. He worked in the SS medical facility, where he massaged SS leaders.