“I finished reading Renia’s diary just a month ago. “ On the screen, the makeup face of Elizabeth Bellak shines. She smiles but her gaze stealthily darkens. “Until then, every time I opened it, I cried. “
In her New York apartment, we see the black and white portrait of her sister behind her. The almost 90-year-old lady survived the Shoah. Renia was not so lucky. She was killed by the Gestapo on July 30, 1942 in the Przemysl ghetto, in Poland. She had just turned 18.
Published in 2019
Renia Spiegel. His name could have remained buried in the endless list of victims. Today he takes center stage thanks to the publication of his diary, which has spent seventy years in a safe: 700 pages in Polish, translated into English and published in 2019 in the UK and the United States.
Since October 8, two editions are available in French. With Renia’s Journal, Elizabeth now dares to tell her tragic past and share the memories of her sister.
Romantic teen
At the time of the invasion of Poland, Renia, born in 1924 in Uhrynkowce, in the south of the country, was a teenager of 15 years ” very romantic “. Elizabeth was then called Ariana and was six years younger.
By observing it, we guess the little girl actress, nicknamed the Polish Shirley Temple. Renia talks about it at the start of her diary. She has been living with her grandparents in Przemysl for a year now and suffers from the absence of her mother, who has settled in Warsaw to take care of Ariana’s career.
Poland cut in half
During the summer vacation 1939, Ariana joined Renia at her grandparents’ house. She remained “stuck” there until the summer of 1942. In September, Poland was cut in two. Renia, her little sister and her grandparents meet on the Russian side, their mother on the German side.
“Renia was very attentive to me. She took me to school, helped me with my homework… Of course, we were very worried about our mother. “ The little girl will later learn that she was working in a hotel in Warsaw with false papers.
Poems and Thoughts
In Przemysl, life is organized despite the occupant. Secretly, Renia delivers her adolescent thoughts and poems to her journal. The girl likes to write. “My sister was president of her high school literature club. His handwriting was very beautiful. She wrote poems that all her friends wanted to read… But I didn’t know she was keeping a diary! “
Between slices of life and confidences, death progresses. But she doesn’t stop Renia from falling in love. “Zygu is divine and love is magnificent”, she wrote fervently on May 18, 1942. “You have no idea how much she loved Zygmunt! confirm Elizabeth. He was very handsome with his black hair and green eyes. Renia knew the horrors of war but thanks to her love she was transported. “
Barely two months later, the Przemysl ghetto was created. The first AB-Aktion (plan for the systematic elimination of the “ruling class”) takes place on July 27. Jews who do not have a work permit are deported to the camps. Zygmunt gets one. Not Renia. The young man manages to hide her with his parents in an attic. Just before, he takes Ariana to a friend who is not Jewish. The rest is terrible. “Three shots! Three lives lost! “ writes Zygmunt, devastated, on July 31 in the diary that Renia gave him and that he managed to put to safety.
A piece of history
For her part, Ariana, 11, finds her mother in Warsaw, changes her identity and becomes Elzbieta. In 1946, they settled in the United States. Zygmunt, who survived Auschwitz, found them around 1950. “When he handed Renia’s diary to my mother, it was a shock”, Elizabeth remembers. Neither is able to read it. They deposit it in a bank safe.
The rest is Alexandra, Elizabeth’s daughter, who tells it. “About ten years ago, I wanted to know the Jewish part of my history. I picked up the diary to translate it into English. The translation was rudimentary but I immediately perceived a depth. He wasn’t just talking about my family. It was also a piece of history. “
Renia’s Journal, publication for adults (Escales, 384 pages, € 21.90) and teenagers with an afterword and historical references (Slalom, 525 pages, € 16.95).
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