We tried to get his address through the address bureau, but we didn’t succeed because we don’t know his actual name. We call her “Brühla.” Brühla is the wife of a handsome officer who lives in Lwow. At our school, the girls often get “crushes” on our teachers, so Nora and I have a crush, a real one (some girls do it just to butter the teachers up) on our Latin teacher, Mrs. We share all the same thoughts and opinions. So many! Let me introduce some of my classmates to you. The distance and darkness outside the doorīut I also have joyous moments, and there are so many of them. The linden trees, house, storks and butterfliesįa r. I miss the house where we all lived together. That’s why sometimes I get so sad that I have to cry. Now I live in Przemysl, at my grandmother’s house. And the Dniester River, which flows, distant, strange and cold-which hums, but not for me anymore. All that remain are memories, sweet and lovely. There is no manor house anymore, no storks on old linden trees, no apples or flowers. Apples glistened in the orchard, and I had a garden with neat, charming rows of flowers. I used to live in a beautiful manor house on the Dniester River.
I have a little sister, Ariana, who wants to be a movie star. My name is Renia, or at least that is what my friends call me. I’m a student at the Maria Konopnicka Middle School for Girls. You will not betray me.įirst of all, allow me to introduce myself. In return, you’ll listen to my thoughts and concerns, but you’ll remain silent like an enchanted book, locked up with an enchanted key and hidden in an enchanted castle. In any case, I promise to always be honest with you. Who knows how long it will last? It might even continue until the end of our lives. Today, my dear diary, is the beginning of our deep friendship. No human being could ever be that kind of friend. Somebody who will feel what I feel, believe what I say and never reveal my secrets. Somebody I can talk to about my everyday worries and joys.
Why did I decide to start a diary today? Has something important happened? Have I discovered that my friends are keeping diaries of their own? No! I just want a friend. Along with the diary excerpts below, we’ve added red type with contextual dates of the history of how World War II came to Poland, as the Nazis invaded from the west and the Soviets from the east, deporting, imprisoning and murdering Jews in cities like Przemsyl, where Spiegel lived and perished. To learn the backstory of Spiegel’s life and how her words found their way to our pages, we invite you to read this prologue by journalist Robin Shulman. From the Editors: Translated from Polish for the first time, the diary of Renia Spiegel presents us with a striking first-person narrative of life as a young Jew during World War II.