Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook12 hours
Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal
Written by Elizabeth Bellak, Renia Spiegel, Sarah Durand and Deborah Lipstadt
Narrated by Ann Richardson
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
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 An extraordinary historical document, Renia Spiegel survives through the beauty of her words and the efforts of those who loved her and preserved her legacy.
Author
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.
Related to Renia's Diary
Related audiobooks
A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lily's Promise: Holding On to Hope Through Auschwitz and Beyond—A Story for All Generations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Train: A Family History of the Final Solution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Holocaust Diaries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Daughter of Auschwitz: My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boy in the Woods: A True Story of Survival During the Second World War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Dear Ones: One Family and the Final Solution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Claiming My Place: Coming of Age in the Shadow of the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Jews in Berlin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Must Not Forget: Holocaust Stories of Survival and Resistance (Scholastic Focus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Lvov: Holocaust Memoir of a Twelve-year-old Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Letter: A Father's Struggle, A Daughter's Quest and the Long Shadow of the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Left to the Mercy of a Rude Stream: The Bargain That Broke Adolf Hitler and Saved My Mother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If I Survive: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 100-year-old Lena Goldstein's Miracle Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What They Didn't Burn: Uncovering My Father's Holocaust Secrets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Behind the Fireplace: Memoirs of a Girl Working in the Dutch Resistance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rescued from the Ashes: The Diary of Leokadia Schmidt, Survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Watchmakers: A Powerful WW2 Story of Brotherhood, Survival, and Hope Amid the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story Keeper: Weaving the Threads of Time and Memory. A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHolocaust Holiday: One Family's Descent into Genocide Memory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWe Had to Be Brave: Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport (Scholastic Focus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shoes of the Shoah: The Tomorrow of Yesterday Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Give You My Heart: A True Story of Courage and Survival Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz: A True Story Retold for Young Readers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living among the Dead: My Grandmother's Holocaust Survival Story of Love and Strength Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Historical Biographies For You
Man's Search for Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil and Harper Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moveable Feast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery, with eBook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A. Lincoln: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related podcast episodes
"On Auschwitz" (10): Living and sanitary conditions as well as camp clothing at Auschwitz 100% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (14): Starvation and slave labour of Auschwitz prisoners 0% found this document usefulEpisode 345-Interview with Joe Lee about his book Forgiveness 0% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (11): Sport and sportspeople in Auschwitz 100% found this document usefulThe Redhead of Auschwitz: Rosie Heilbrun was always told her red hair was a curse, but she never believed it. She often dreamed what it would look like under a white veil with the man of her dreams by her side. However, her life takes a harrowing turn in 1944 when she is... 100% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (1): The beginnings of Auschwitz 0% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (4): Transformation of Auschwitz concentration camp into an extermination center 0% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (12): Polish and Jewish prisoners in the camp 100% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (16): The research on the number of victims of the camp 0% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (13): The fate of Sonderkommando prisoners 100% found this document useful91. Israel 1948-1967: The Eichmann Trial Part 1 0% found this document useful2: The Massacre in Los Molinos 0% found this document usefulEpisode 346-Interview with the Hosts of The Warrior Next Door Podcast 0% found this document useful
Related articles
Holocaust Survivor Lily Ebert Uses TikTok To Make Sure We Never Forget The Big IssueUNLIMITED
Holocaust Survivor Lily Ebert Uses TikTok To Make Sure We Never Forget
Aug 30, 2021
5 min read75 Years After Auschwitz Liberation, Survivors Urge World To Remember NPRUNLIMITED
75 Years After Auschwitz Liberation, Survivors Urge World To Remember
Jan 27, 2020
6 min readA Discovery Of Holocaust-era Photos Helps A Jewish Family Connect With Its Past NPRUNLIMITED
A Discovery Of Holocaust-era Photos Helps A Jewish Family Connect With Its Past
Jan 27, 2022
3 min readThe Boy Who Drew Auschwitz Country LifeUNLIMITED
The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz
Jan 27, 2021
4 min readThe Murder Of James Bulger 30 Years On Woman's OwnUNLIMITED
The Murder Of James Bulger 30 Years On
Feb 7, 2023
This week marks 30 years since two-year-old James Bulger was abducted and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. James would be in his 30s now. Would he be married? A father? With a career? All that was snatched away from
4 min readSins Of My Grandfather You South AfricaUNLIMITED
Sins Of My Grandfather
Feb 21, 2020
10 min readMerkel Tours Auschwitz With 'Sense Of Shame' And Warns Of Resurgent Anti-Semitism NPRUNLIMITED
Merkel Tours Auschwitz With 'Sense Of Shame' And Warns Of Resurgent Anti-Semitism
Dec 6, 2019
2 min read'The Tattooist Of Auschwitz' Is Flawed, Remarkable, Wrenching, Moving The Christian Science MonitorUNLIMITED
'The Tattooist Of Auschwitz' Is Flawed, Remarkable, Wrenching, Moving
Sep 7, 2018
This fictionalized account of true events is the strangest of all genres: a mostly true story about a Holocaust romance.
3 min readHow One Boy, My Father, Survived The Holocaust The Australian Women's WeeklyUNLIMITED
How One Boy, My Father, Survived The Holocaust
Aug 18, 2019
9 min readThe Auschwitz Photographer History of WarUNLIMITED
The Auschwitz Photographer
Mar 18, 2021
1 min readThe 10 Best Podcasts TIMEUNLIMITED
The 10 Best Podcasts
Nov 26, 2018
1 SERIAL Serial became a runaway hit in its first season—then hit a lull in its second. But the true-crime podcast’s third season is its best. Instead of focusing on one case, the show covers a new story at the Justice Center in Cleveland each week.
3 min readLiving History: The Millions Interviews Jason Sommer The MillionsUNLIMITED
Living History: The Millions Interviews Jason Sommer
Feb 1, 2022
My father often seemed angry and didn’t sleep well. There was a recurrent, if intermittent, sense of unease around the family, a kind of haunting. Eventually the ghosts, and the demons, were named. The post Living History: The Millions Interviews Jas
13 min readEscaping Genocide New Zealand ListenerUNLIMITED
Escaping Genocide
Feb 2, 2020
The Theresienstadt concentration camp, near Prague, was presented to the world as an idyllic thermal spa, Hitler’s “gift to the Jews”. Hitler’s propaganda machine ensured that the camp, established in an old stone-fortress town, received favourable c
6 min read'All Ships Follow Me' Rustles Up Questions About The Privilege To Be Heard NPRUNLIMITED
'All Ships Follow Me' Rustles Up Questions About The Privilege To Be Heard
Apr 4, 2019
4 min readBooks The Big IssueUNLIMITED
Books
Aug 22, 2022
6 min readLiz Kessler History of WarUNLIMITED
Liz Kessler
Jan 21, 2021
3 min read'Silence Is A Sense' Works To Dispel The Terrible Abstractions Of Syria's Civil War NPRUNLIMITED
'Silence Is A Sense' Works To Dispel The Terrible Abstractions Of Syria's Civil War
Mar 13, 2021
3 min readBooks & gifts Family Tree UKUNLIMITED
Books & gifts
Dec 10, 2021
8 min readThe Doctor Is In World War IIUNLIMITED
The Doctor Is In
Jul 30, 2019
3 min readThese 'Women In The Castle' Provide New Perspectives On Nazi Germany NPRUNLIMITED
These 'Women In The Castle' Provide New Perspectives On Nazi Germany
Mar 25, 2017
2 min readTracing Your Holocaust Ancestors Family Tree UKUNLIMITED
Tracing Your Holocaust Ancestors
Jan 13, 2023
7 min readJoakim Brodén Sabaton Metal Hammer UKUNLIMITED
Joakim Brodén Sabaton
Nov 10, 2022
Your newest song, Father, is about Fritz Haber, the scientist who invented both artificial fertiliser and chlorine gas. Hero or villain? “Depending on which point in his life you look at him, he could be both. If you go by pure numbers, he is respons
3 min readSurvivor Secrets New Zealand Woman’s WeeklyUNLIMITED
Survivor Secrets
Feb 12, 2023
While it has a very strong flavour of Where the Crawdads Sing, this novel is far more than a copycat of that mega bestseller. What both books have in common is that they are about young women living in the wilderness, but this one is a World War II a
3 min readBooks The Big IssueUNLIMITED
Books
Oct 17, 2022
6 min readBooks The Big IssueUNLIMITED
Books
May 1, 2023
6 min readCONFRONTING THE PAST; Ethics Of Family History Family Tree UKUNLIMITED
CONFRONTING THE PAST; Ethics Of Family History
Oct 14, 2022
7 min readA Kind Of Loving The Critic MagazineUNLIMITED
A Kind Of Loving
Mar 25, 2021
12 min readIsn’t It Interesting? The New York Review of Books MagazineUNLIMITED
Isn’t It Interesting?
Jan 19, 2024
9 min readA Gift Poets & WritersUNLIMITED
A Gift
Aug 14, 2019
13 min readParts of Us Not Made at Home Guernica MagazineUNLIMITED
Parts of Us Not Made at Home
Aug 6, 2019
12 min read
Related categories
Reviews for Renia's Diary
Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
5/5
4 ratings0 reviews