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Renia’s Diary

A Young Girl’s Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust

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Renia’s Diary

By: Renia Spiegel, Marta Dziurosz, Anna Blasiak
Narrated by: Ann Richardson
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Introduction by Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Denial


July 15, 1942, Wednesday
Remember this day; remember it well. You will tell generations to come. Since 8 o’clock today we have been shut away in the ghetto. I live here now. The world is separated from me and I’m separated from the world.

Renia is a young girl who dreams of becoming a poet. But Renia is Jewish, she lives in Poland and the year is 1939. When Russia and Germany invade her country, Renia's world shatters. Separated from her mother, her life takes on a new urgency as she flees Przemysl to escape night bombing raids, observes the disappearances of other Jewish families and, finally, witnesses the creation of the ghetto.

But alongside the terror of war, there is also great beauty, as she begins to find her voice as a writer and falls in love for the first time. She and the boy she falls in love with, Zygmunt, share their first kiss a few hours before the Nazis reach her hometown. And it is Zygmunt who writes the final, heartbreaking entry in Renia’s diary.

Recently rediscovered after seventy years, Renia’s Diary is already being described as a classic of Holocaust literature. Written with a clarity and skill that is reminiscent of Anne Frank, Renia's Diary also includes a prologue and epilogue by Renia's sister Elizabeth, as well as an introduction by Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Denial. It is an extraordinary testament to both the horrors of war, and to the life that can exist even in the darkest times.

©2019 Renia Spiegel and Marta Dziurosz (P)2019 Penguin Audio
20th Century Biographies & Memoirs Military War Holocaust
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thank you Elisabeth for this book

I have smiled I have laughed I have cried.
I felt her struggles of being in love for the very first time. I love her poems. I wish I had half of that talent.
I cried bitterly when Rania met her awful fate. I cried for Zygmund who had tried to keep the people he loved the most safe only for some greedy snitch to rat them out.
thank you for sharing this beautiful 700 pages written by Renia.


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Very sad story

It took me a while to get into this book but it was well worth it. Rena starts her diary as a young, innocent girl and it hits home that she was one of many young people just going about their daily lives. She expresses the usual worries and insecurities of youth, just the same as todays generation which really adds to the horror of the situation she found herself in at the end of the book .Her struggle to cope with separation from her mother is so sad and her enduring love for her boyfriend is often expressed through beautiful poetry. The narration of this book was excellent and really enhanced the experience. Bless you Renia, I hope you are at peace.

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heartbreaking loss of a life

so so so devastating to listen to her entry dieries filled with hope knowing what iscoming

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