September 1916: In the Austro-Hungarian military hospital, soldier Dan is recovering from severe front-line injuries - then new heroic deeds await. His marching orders read: Jerusalem. On his way lies Constantinople, filled with whores and operetta uniforms, a hotbed of crooked dealings between Europe and Asia. In contrast, the Austro-Hungarian medical mission in Jerusalem promises an oasis of peace, and the Austrian soldiers here become war profiteers, holding meaningless parades or engaging in debauchery. However, they soon find themselves facing the "face of war" there as well, the "spawn of madness." Powerlessly, they witness the "crimes of the Turkish War": "slaughtered Armenians," brutal violence against Arabs and Jews, torture, and starving civilians in the streets of Jerusalem. But the distant homeland is no better: "Europe is madness, Europe is murder." Written around 1940, this key novel by an eyewitness about World War I in the Middle East serves as a captivating parallel read to the works of T. E. "Lawrence of Arabia.".