I just finished reading "Renia's Diary. First of all I have to say the poetry was wonderful. I did enjoy it. The book was , however, long and repetitive for the most part. I was expecting a diary of the Holocaust and this was not what this book was really about.

The book is about Renia a Jewish teenager growing up from 14 to 18. She is heartbroken that her mother lives in one city, her father in another and she is stuck living with her grandparents. Apparently at least part of the time her grandmother makes her feel she is a burden to them. She mostly writes about her crushes on boys in school and her school friends. Then she falls in love with one particular boy for the rest of the diary and it is about him and her feelings toward him.

Toward the end is a bit on the holocaust the white armband, the ghetto relocation and the hiding in the end but it touches very briefly. I had a hard time wading through the repetitive writings about her romance with this particular boy and their fights. Also it was a bit hard to follow when the names were used in variations and the same name was not used for the same person throughout the book, it made it hard to follow who was being written about.

I read the book through to the end. The most interesting part was the remarks left at the end by Renia's sister and the explanations of what took place after the war to the people mentioned in the book. Again I have to mention the poetry was very good.

Teenagers are teenagers regarding their nationality, or time period. Renia is a typical 15 year old girl complete with the full roller coaster of emotions- hope , joy, fear, self pity, and petty jealousy of every other girl, everywhere going through adolescence. Of course her diary was meant to be private, she had no idea that anyone else would read it, and thus it is an unfiltered lens into how deeply she feels everything. My quom is with the way the book was put together- the footnotes, and her sister’ commentary were in separate sections at the back of the book. They lent a lot of explanation but it was a pain to keep flipping back and forth to find out what they meant.

I think this would be a great book for a highschool student- to see how little has changed, and how we must keep it from ever happening again.

This is an emotional and heart wrenching diary of a young girl living through the Holocaust. It was more focused on her love interest during this time. Overall, it was okay but I was expecting something a bit different. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a heart wrenching journal of what life was like for Renia and countless others during the WWII Holocaust. To say that "I loved this book" seems wrong somehow.

My thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy. Release date for this one is scheduled for September 2019.

It will always be difficult not to compare books like this to Anne Franks Diary, this one really did stand up on its own.
A haunting read, i would recommend this to anyone who enjoys novels set during this period,

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I have been sitting on my review and rating for this book all weekend. Often my fellow reviewers of Holocaust non fiction have commented how difficult it is to rate a person's life story. In reading Renia's Diary:A Holocaust Diary I do find myself struggling to articulate my feelings on this diary.

Renia Spiegel's story is important and relevant and her sister's determination to share her diary with the reading world is incredibly important and shows great love and courage. I truly believe that the most important parts of this book is for the reader to turn to the afterword and then read the diary. It's actually what finally made my decision to put this as a 3 star rating.

The diary spans from 1939 to 1942 and tells the young Polish girl's story from adolescent crushes to the Nazi and Soviet Occupations. The most heartbreaking moments are when Renia talks about the separation from her mother and her fears as the ghetto in Przemysl is created. Like Anne Frank, Renia's young vibrant voice would be one of many silenced by the Holocaust. In fact, Renia's diary would remain unknown for many years.

As a reader, I did find some of Renia's accounts about school mates and her love life a bit uninteresting. But I am a 37 year old English teacher, my students on the other hand would totally connect to Renia. So don't let that dissuade you from picking it up and giving it a chance.

Goodreads review published 09/06/19
Publication Date 24/09/19

A story must grab me immediately and this book did not. It's a shame because I was looking forward to reading it

This book is the edited version of Renia Spiegel‘s diary that spans nearly 700 pages and nearly four years in 1939-1942.

Sergey Yarov wrote brilliantly about morality in the siege of Leningrad during World War II. He read a lot of previously redacted diaries that belonged to people who were part of the siege. Those diaries told a clear tale of how things changed gradually, and how what was once considered extreme behaviours were normalised, from making potato-skin soup to pilfering corpses for food stamps.

Equally, Viktor Klemperer‘s essential diaries from World War II told a most chilling tale where Jews were violently targeted, people that weren’t The Teutonic Ideal were persecuted, and entire populations razed off the face of the Earth. But not without testimony.

<blockquote>Most importantly, diaries offer us something that memoirs do not: an emotional immediacy. And it is this immediacy that is so very compelling. I am reminded of Helene Berr, the Israelite young Parisian woman who kept a diary from 1942 through to the day she and her parents were rounded up in March 1944. Fortuitously, she begins to write but a short time before the decree that all Jews must wear a yellow star.

She confides to the diary her struggle with whether to wear it or not. Was wearing it an act of compliance with a hateful regime or did it demonstrate a pride in one’s Jewish identity? We read of her reactions to passerby’s comments. Some express solidarity and others pity. She reflects on them, not from a distance of many years, but on the day she encountered them. She does not—because she cannot—contextualize this act as the first step in an array of far worse persecution to come.</blockquote>

The above is part of the introduction that is written by Renia’s sister, Ariana Spiegel, who is currently named Elizabeth Leszczyska Bellak.

<blockquote><b>JANUARY 31, 1939</b>

Why did I decide to start my diary today? Did something important happen? Have I discovered that my friends are keeping diaries of their own? No! I just want a friend. I want somebody I can talk to about my everyday worries and joys. Somebody who will feel what I feel, believe what I say and never reveal my secrets. No human could ever be that kind of friend and that’s why I have decided to look for a confidant in the form of a diary. Today, my dear Diary, is the beginning of our deep friendship.</blockquote>

Renia was fourteen years old when she started her diary, a tumultuous time for any teenager, for sure.

She writes of everyday troubles, of boys that she likes, of friends, family, her constant longing for her mother, and to begin with, this diary offers a reprieve from all things sensationalistic – which is exactly why it is extraordinary; the horrors of World War seep in over time.

<blockquote><b>FEBRUARY 13, 1939</b>

Can there be a worse day than Monday the 13th? Monday on its own is usually quite bad, and now we have the number 13 added to it. Bad luck! It was definitely not a good day for me.</blockquote>

There are naturally sudden changes all throughout the book, as war is seldom predictable, especially for the victims.

<blockquote><b>SEPTEMBER 10, 1939</b>

Oh, God! My God! We’ve been on the road for three days now. Przemyel was attacked. We had to flee. The three of us escaped: me, Arianka and Grandpa. We have left the burning, partially destroyed city in the middle of the night on foot, carrying our bags. Granny stayed behind. Lord, please protect her. We heard on the road that Przemyel was being destroyed.</blockquote>

One stand-out thing about Renia is her poetry. She writes poetry all throughout her diary, about all kinds of things. To me, it is apparent how the poetry changes, both from her age and also from the war.

<blockquote><i>Even if your beauty could outshine that of Greek goddesses’ line
Your fate will remain the same
Your life will not be reframed
Life doesn’t care about your eyes
Your ugly lips
Nose the wrong size!
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Tell me the truth you reflect and all.</i></blockquote>

Her words on her love interests radiate from the page:

<blockquote><b>JANUARY 5, 1941, SUNDAY</b>

And? Didn’t I say it was better not to see him? I was so regretful, but tough. It always so happens that when you love somebody, you tease them. The greetings were sweet, but then he didn’t dance with me, he sat there fuming, in a bad mood, but tough, after all (oh, God) love can (i.e., must!!!) sulk too. Today I’m in bed; I’m unwell. Oh, I so hope that everything pans out well!! Please, Great One! I find evidence of his liking even in anger.

<b>A 16-YEAR-OLD</b>

<i>When you’re 16 years old you dearly love the whole world with all its parties, pranks and jokes and especially with your favorite folks.
When you hide your crumpled diary from your mother’s strict inquiries.
When you sing love songs
Then you are 16 years old.</i></blockquote>

Her true beloved, Zygu, shines through the pages, even when he is “a boor”, and their love is mutual. It makes me remember the turmoils and torpor that youth entails.

<blockquote><b>JULY 1, 1941</b>

We’re all alive and well. All of us, Norka, Irka, Zygu, my friends, my family. And today I want to speak with you as a free person still. Today I’m like everyone else … Tomorrow, along with other Jews, I’ll have to start wearing a white armband. To you I will always remain the same Renia, a friend, but to others I will become someone inferior, I will become someone wearing a white armband with a blue star. I will be a Jude. I’m not crying or complaining. I have resigned myself to my fate. It just feels so strange and sorrowful. My school vacation and my dates with Zygu are coming to an end. I don’t know when I’ll see him next. Everyone is working today. No news about Mama. God protect us all. Goodbye, dear Diary. I’m writing this while I’m still independent and free. Tomorrow I’ll be someone else—but only on the outside. And perhaps one day I’ll greet you as someone else still. Grant me that, Lord God, I believe in You. You will help me, Bulus and God!</blockquote>

Zygu and Renia loved each other dearly, seemingly as she loved her mother. Renia’s sister, Elizabeth, provides a loving epilogue to this book, which also details as much as we know happened to Renia, and also to Zygmunt (Zygu).

This diary stood the test of time, and will forever be a tome over what happened to a young person who was murdered during the Holocaust.

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 articles and marketing comparing this to Anne Frank’s diary is so misleading.

Anne’s diary is unbelievably comprehensive. She is incredibly observant of those around her, what they’re doing, complaining about, or their verbatim conversations with her. She’s also deeply introspective for such a young girl. Anne discusses politics, current events, growing up, her hobbies and interests, the rising cost of goods, her cat going missing, and her difficult relationship with her mother (among many other topics). Upon reading the first several pages of her diary over, Anne confesses at one point that she’s embarrassed by her candor, that her descriptions are “indelicate.” That all being said, I bought a copy of Anne’s diary from the museum shop beneath her house when I was 15 and read it while in Amsterdam, so surely my perspective at that time was different.

I’m now nearly 30 years old and struggled to be patient with Renia. It’s clear that her separation from her mother has caused a deep loneliness and need for affection. Her emotion and constant pleading for her mom to come back make her sadness almost palpable. The beginning of Renia’s diary is gripping because they have to flee Przemysl for Lwow during the Soviet Occupation, leaving her grandmother behind. However, I found her sister Arianka/Elizabeth’s recounting of this event at the end of the diary to be much more detailed and horrifying.

They soon return to Przemysl, and for the next year, Renia records her feuds, rivalries, and crushes among her schoolmates until she meets Zygus. Nearly every entry thereafter is about her “sweet, darling, wonderful, lovely Zygus.” Renia records his name at least 167 times. I simply don’t trust anyone who claims that this isn’t tedious (and eventually mind-numbing) to read. I don’t know how a publisher could possibly work around this when printing a diary, but you should know what you’re getting yourself into.There is very little introspection, discussion of what’s going on around her (outside her group of friends), and certainly no mention of what’s happening within her household.

Renia’s poetry is beautiful. It’s heartbreaking to think about the abundance of literature she could have given this world if she’d not been murdered. It’s clear that she doesn’t understand the gravity of the events around her, and I think it’s precisely /because/ we know how the story ends that this is so frustrating.

I’m grateful to Renia’s sister Elizabeth for sharing this diary with the world and for ensuring that Renia was not forgotten by time. Elizabeth’s contributions to this book are what make it at least a 3 star rating for me. She adds a lot of necessary context looking back on these events, although it’s difficult for her to recount such a painful time. Her story of survival is truly amazing, and it’s tragic that she seems to feel such guilt that she lived while her sister didn’t.

A holocaust memoir the diary of a young Polish girl during world war 11 her life her world a revealing raw revealing look at the horrors around her,important moving .heartbreaking read.

What made this book interesting for me was the prologue by the surviving sister and the afterwords as to what happened with the family.

This was a gripping, heart wrenching peak into Renia’s inner thoughts during a horrific historical period that feels all too real now. If only we could all learn from humanity’s past, perhaps future cruelty could be avoided.
Renia's Diary should be required reading, along with Anne Frank’s. You feel as though become her friend and close confidante. I found it hard to put down but I also didn’t want it to end, especially knowing what the future held for Renia.
I am grateful to NetGalley for providing such an impactful, vital read.

Originally written in Polish.
The long-hidden diary of a young Polish woman's last days during the holocaust, translated for the first time
into English. A significant historical document. The beautiful account shows Renia's feelings over the horrors she survived.

Reading the diary of a young girl full of hope for her future
She has dreams
Her diary is saved and brought to print

She should not be forgotten along with the other victims.
We need more tolerance, acceptance, - we need peace!

Heartbreaking to read, I am still reflecting on these words:
"Today is the last day of 1940, ... new year brings new regrets, new laughter, new worries, new struggles ...
wish to get Mama back and good political relations ...
new year on a new page
Year will be New, it'll be full of hope for the long 12 months
June 18,1942
I turn 18 on the 18th
I'm an adult now, but I don't know much.

There's still time...

Sorry to say I didn’t really enjoy this book. It is more of a young adult love story of a girl’s diary. There really wasn’t anything about the the war until 3/4 of the way through and it really didn’t touch on it that much. I enjoyed the information that was written after the diary ended but that is about it. I think it is amazing that it survived the war and is good for future generations. Not sure if I would recommend this book. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

This is a beautiful diary written by a Jewish girl. It tells of her life, her love, and also if WWII. I think every book like this should be read.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Renia’s Diary, a true diary written by a young Jewish teen that lived in Poland, is a true diary of her own words. The beginning and followup pages to delve into more information, is written by her sister who’s name is now Elizabeth.

This, like all other Holocaust memoirs whether survivor or victim, is a remarkable and touching tribute to a woman taken too early.
This document is touching, heart-wrenching, and absolutely needed to keep these wonderful souls known to our generation and for the generations hereafter.

I loved this diary. It means so much to me as a fellow Jewish woman. It means everything.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this ARC and in return, this is my unbiased and voluntary review.