Written when he was only twenty-five, before embarking on the masterpieces that would make him an integral figure in twentieth-century letters, Psalm 44 shows KiS at his most lyrical and unguarded, demonstrating that even in "the place of dragons . . . covered with the shadow of death," there can still be poetry. Featuring characters based on actual inmates and warders-including the abominable Dr. Mengele-Psalm 44 is a baring of many of the themes, patterns, and preoccupations KiS would return to in future, albeit never with the same starkness or immediacy.