Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal

by Renia Spiegel

Book Overview

A New York Times bestseller
A USA Today bestseller

The long-hidden diary of a young Polish woman's life during the Holocaust, translated for the first time into English

Renia Spiegel was born in 1924 to an upper-middle class Jewish family living in southeastern Poland, near what was at that time the border with Romania. At the start of 1939 Renia began a diary. "I just want a friend. I want somebody to talk...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250244021
• ISBN13: 9781250244024
• Release Date: September 2019
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

An innocent view.

Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel; With Her Sister, Elizabeth Bellak and With Writer Sarah Durand Renia started a diary for herself, in Poland, so she would have a nonjudgmental friend who could console her when she was down January 31, 1939. Renia shares her hopes and dreams, poetry and songs-some that she made up and others that spoke to her. She hangs out with her friends. She misses her sister-who is a start and is gone a lot. She misses her mama-who lives in a different part of the country. She gets a boyfriend Zygmunt. He survived and Renia did not. She had given Zygu (a nickname she called him by) her journal. Her journal is interesting, she lives is Przemysl, Poland with her grandparents, who live in the apartment above their stationary shop. Her mother is mostly in Warsaw and their father lives out on their country estate, farming and keeping people working for him. Renia gets together with her friends regularly, there are 6 or 8 guys and girls that hang out together, regularly. Her diary is interesting, but seems to stay in one place. There was an expectation, that this was a diary from someone who lived and died during the Holocaust, or who survived. It wasn't until the Epilogue by her sister Elizabeth that explained a lot of things. The poetry and songs aren't my thing, but for the right person, it would be great. Renia was murdered by the Nazis in 1942. I received a complimentary copy from Goodreads and St. Martin's Press with no obligation to review. Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel; With Her Sister, Elizabeth Bellak and With Writer Sarah Durand