THE AUTHOR of this book (1907-1944) was perhaps the greatest poet of the Holocaust, a Jewish Catholic convert who fell victim to a mass murder of Jews perpetrated by the regular Hungarian Army under stan-dard orders. The crime took place towards the end of the Second World War when the Allied victory was already obvious.Some of the poems were recovered from the grave. Today, the poems are treasured as some of the most flawless modern additions to their country's rich poetic heritage. They have gone some way towards teaching tolerance to new generations in the treatment of their racial, religious and ethnic minorities. Unlike many others, Radnóti had plenty of opportunities to escape forced labour and death at the hands of the Nazis. He was at the height of his literary powers when he chose to enter the storm, eyes open and notebook in hand, deliberately seeking to transform the horror into po-etry.