Rutka's Notebook: A Voice from the Holocaust

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Ms Sapinska, now in her late 80s, took the diary and kept it secret for more than 60 years until one of her nephews last year convinced her to present it to Yad Vashem, Israel's national Holocaust museum and archive in Jerusalem. The diary begins on 19 January, with the entry "I can not grasp that it is already 1943, four years since this hell began". She was living in a new world, but it was the world of Nazi destruction. Her family had already been dislocated once and was threatened with imminent relocation again to an enclosed ghetto. Above that loomed the ever-present threat of Auschwitz. Occasionally, Rutka wrote directly about the occupation and of her fear of the Germans, but mostly she confined her attention to personal matters. Perhaps she was trying to make sense of her relationships at a time when they could change or disappear in a moment. Maybe she was simply focusing on things that were at least somewhat under her control. In either case, the subtext of her diary reveals that she was aware of her broader circumstances and their effects on her life. The Polish Anne Frank—did I miss something? Then I remembered Rutka Laskier’s diary. Apparently she was the Polish Anne Frank, a detail that had completely escaped me.

Discovery of Laskier's diary[edit] In 1943, while writing the diary, Laskier shared it with Stanisława Sapińska (21 years old, at that time), whom she had befriended after Laskier's family moved into a home owned by Sapińska's Roman Catholic family, which had been confiscated by the Nazis so that it could be included in the ghetto.

Historical records matching Rutka Laskier

Rutka, en cambio, sabe bien cuál es su destino, sabe bien dónde acabará. Por ello, no merece la pena malgastar el tiempo escribiendo sobre lo que desea hacer cuando el conflicto cese. Es este contexto en el que las palabras de Rutka se amontonan. Al contrario que Frank, entra y sale constantemente de su domicilio; discute con sus padres por su insistencia y control constantes; también viaja para ver a los amigos; cree en el amor, aunque no sabe con certeza qué se siente al estar enamorada. En definitiva: se entrega de lleno al poco tiempo que le queda de vida. — Hailed in the international press as the ”Polish Anne Frank,” RUTKA’S NOTEBOOK was unveiled in Jerusalem in spring 2007. The diary chronicles the horrors Rutka witnesses in Bedzin, juxtaposed and intertwined with the private, everyday thoughts and dreams of a young girl growing up – anywhere. Rutka’s diary ends abruptly, and she gives no hint that she suspects her life will soon end. In fact, Rutka’s last entry complains of boredom. A few days later, she is moved with her family to a ghetto and later to Auschwitz. Rutka Laskier’s notebook, including an introduction by a family member, contains no more than than one thousand words. The comparison with Anne Frank seemed to me slightly unfair to Anne Frank. Besides the fact that Anne Frank has become a cliché—sometimes an unpleasant cliché: I’m not sure what to think about Anne Frank, the Musical, which will open in Spain in the near future—Anne’s diary is not only powerful from a historical point of view, but also from a literary point of view.

a b c d e " 'Polish Anne Frank' diary revealed. 14-year-old's memoirs given to Yad Vashem by victim's friend after 64 years - Jerusalem Post | HighBeam Research". 2016-05-05. Archived from the original on 2016-05-05 . Retrieved 2023-07-25. This book was another powerful testimony to the Holocaust, though I feel all testimonies of this time period are significant and powerful.Philip was moved from camp to camp until he was sent to Sobibor extermination camp in 1943, and was killed by gas chamber. Philip’s family concealed his letters in their Amsterdam house, where they were discovered more than 50 years later when the house was being demolished. 86 letters, including postcards and a telegram were found hidden in the ceiling of the third floor bathroom. The hidden letters eventually came into the possession of Philip’s cousin, in 1999, who published them as a book called Hidden Letters. Rywka Lipszyc Before Petr was deported to the camp, he kept a diary about his life. It was first published by his sister Eva as Diary of My Brother. The English translation was published in 2007 as “ The Diary of Petr Ginz 1941–1942.” Miriam Wattenberg (Mary Berg)