Das Tagebuch des Dr. Hart

Summary

In July 1914, Dr. Robert Hart visited his friend Ursula von Hohenau in Saxony. There he learns of Austria's ultimatum to Serbia. Hart immediately returns to his home, the spa town of Oos, where, shortly before mobilization, he again meets the Polish Count Bransky, his daughter Jadwiga, the Frenchman Viscount Latour, and the Russian ambassador, Count Bronislaw Krascinsky, who is pathologically jealous of Hart because he loves Jadwiga. Finally, Hart is drafted as a doctor. He discovers a photograph of Jadwiga in a peasant's cottage in a village near the Polish front occupied by German troops. In fact, Count Bransky's castle is nearby, and jealous Bronislaw is also in the area, leading Russian troops. After a skirmish with the Russians, Hart finds a badly wounded Bronislaw in the woods and tries to treat him. However, he is knocked down by Cossacks and can only drag himself back to his camp with his last strength. Meanwhile, a field hospital has been established in Bransky's castle, where Jadwiga and Ursula work as nurses. When Bronislaw, who is suffering from cholera, is brought to the camp, he and Jadwiga finally find the strength to confess that they love each other.