Coming from a Czech Jewish family, Otto Gerard Fischl was a teenager when he began to write his diary in 1938. At 13, he went into hiding with his brother and his parents in the home of the Stacke family in Charente. His "captivity" lasted more than two years. To combat his boredom and the anguish of being denounced, Otto confided to his diary the tumultuous life of the household, but also his extensive reading, news of the war and his reflections which often became philosophical.