Renias Diary, Renia Spiegel
Renias Diary, Renia Spiegel
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Renia's Diary
A Holocaust Journal

Bestseller

Author: Renia Spiegel, Deborah Lipstadt

Narrator: Ann Richardson

Unabridged: 12 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/24/2019


Synopsis

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 to about my everyday worries and joys. Somebody who would feel what I feel, who would believe me, who would never reveal my secrets. A human being can never be such a friend and that’s why I have decided to look for a confidant in the form of a diary.” And so begins an extraordinary document of an adolescent girl’s hopes and dreams. By the fall of 1939, Renia and her younger sister Elizabeth (née Ariana) were staying with their grandparents in Przemysl, a city in the south, just as the German and Soviet armies invaded Poland. Cut off from their mother, who was in Warsaw, Renia and her family were plunged into war.

Like Anne Frank, Renia’s diary became a record of her daily life as the Nazis spread throughout Europe. Renia writes of her mundane school life, her daily drama with best friends, falling in love with her boyfriend Zygmund, as well as the agony of missing her mother, separated by bombs and invading armies. Renia had aspirations to be a writer, and the diary is filled with her poignant and thoughtful poetry. When she was forced into the city’s ghetto with the other Jews, Zygmund is able to smuggle her out to hide with his parents, taking Renia out of the ghetto, but not, ultimately to safety. The diary ends in July 1942, completed by Zygmund, after Renia is murdered by the Gestapo.

Renia's Diary has been translated from the original Polish, and includes a preface, afterword, and notes by her surviving sister, Elizabeth Bellak. An extraordinary historical document, Renia Spiegel survives through the beauty of her words and the efforts of those who loved her and preserved her legacy.

About Elizabeth Bellak

ELIZABETH BELLAK (née Ariana Spiegel), born in 1930, was a child actress once called “the Polish Shirley Temple.” In 1942 she and her mother fled to Warsaw, and then to Austria, finally arriving in New York City, where she lives today.

About Renia Spiegel

RENIA SPIEGEL was born to a Jewish family in Poland in 1924. She began her diary at the start of 1939, right before the invasion of Poland by the German and Soviet armies. In 1942, she was forced to move to a ghetto, but was smuggled out by her boyfriend and went into hiding with his parents. She was discovered by the Gestapo and murdered on July 30, 1942.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on September 18, 2019

When I finished this, I didn’t think that it would be fair to rate it. How do you rate someone’s diary, an intimate look at someone’s inner thoughts, secrets, a diary that is not necessarily meant for anyone else to read? I ultimately decided that since I have rated Anne Frank’s diary (5 stars), I s......more

Goodreads review by Paige on September 25, 2019

This diary contains important excerpts for comparative literature in the classroom. Readers see a diary significantly different than Anne Frank’s, in that Renia Spiegal was socially living out and about as a Jew in Przemysl, Poland. When Poland was conquered and divided between Russia and Germany un......more

Goodreads review by Katie on June 08, 2019

This is a difficult book to review for a lot of reasons but I want to start by getting it out of the way that ~90% of Renia Spiegel’s nearly 700 page diary is about her infatuation with Zygmunt Schwarzer (Zygus). Yes, she’s a teenage girl and this should be expected but I think that all the news art......more

Goodreads review by Veronica ⭐️ on September 29, 2019

*[URL not allowed] Renia’s Diary is the journal entries of Polish born Renia Spiegel from 1939, age 15 until 1942 when she was murdered, at age 18, by the Nazi’s. Diaries are an important part of holocaust history. They allow us to hear the voice of those that did not survive. T......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on September 20, 2019

Renia Spiegel was born in Poland and at the age of 18 died by a gunshot to the head for being Jewish. She died a victim of the Holocaust. Between the ages of 15 to 18, Renia kept a diary. It took over 50 years for her 700 pages of diary to find its way to her sister Ariana (Elizabeth as she is now k......more