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In his 1985 published volume “Rain of ashes” the writer Joachim Wittstock presents on parallel levels the tragic destinies of young men, belonging to different ethnic groups from Romania, during the Second World War. The main theme of the collection of stories is the question of guilt and redemption, a question that is being asked obsessivly by all protagonists in the last chapter. The self analysis and confession of the heroes take place in Salzburg, a bathing resort with salt lakes close to Sibiu. The essay focuses on the symbolic value and dimension of the place and its surroundings, which become by means of poetic transposition the gate to the underworld/otherworld, where the souls of the dead soldiers come together, trying to find an explanation and a sense for the terrible suffering and the mutilation of lives caused by the war.