The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

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The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

by Nonna Bannister, Denise George, Carolyn Tomlin

3.74 · rating details · 1,184 ratings · 249 reviews

Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna's writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the concentration camps and lea...more

Hardcover, 299 pages

Published April 1st 2009 by Tyndale House Publishers

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Apr 28, 2011

Lyndsey marked it as to-read

Shelves: own-on-kindle, free-or-cheap-download, about-holocaust, non-fiction, about-religion-or-religious-subtext, kindle-lendables

FREE EBOOK ON KINDLE. Non-fiction holocaust memior. Currently down from the regular price of 12.99. Get it HERE. Probably won't be free for long.

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Feb 07, 2012

Etta Mcquade rated it

Many people may not be aware that non-Jews were Holocaust victims, such as Nonna Bannister, a Russian girl who was imprisoned in German labor camps with her mother, who later was transferred to a concentration camp where she was burned to death in an oven. Her father was brutally killed by Nazi soldiers in Russia. What's amazing about Nonna is that she kept a diary from the time she was nine years old and still in Russia, hidden under her clothes and tied around her waist in a small pillow, ev...more

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Feb 05, 2012

Amy rated it

Shelves: memoir, history, non-fiction

I love reading memoirs and diaries. They are the best insight into a world of the past and a great lesson for the future. This book is no different. Nonna Bannister's diaries from her time during the second world war are frightening and heartfelt. It is so hard to believe that the atrocities she witnessed really happened but there is not doubt that they didn't. I am impressed that she translated all of her diaries from the various languages she learned from her father as a child. She also kept h...more

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Jan 15, 2012

Sandy rated it

· review of another edition

The Secret Holocaust Diaries of Nonna Bannister is the narrative of an adolescent Russian girl whose idyllic life is transformed by the horrors of the Second World War. Walks in the park with her mother, language lessons with her father, and holidays in ther grandmother's Great House come to an abrupt end as war comes to her family, separating them as they struggle to survive.

Nonna witnesses first-hand the abuse of starving, freezing German soldiers who stab her dead father through...moreThe Secret Holocaust Diaries of Nonna Bannister is the narrative of an adolescent Russian girl whose idyllic life is transformed by the horrors of the Second World War. Walks in the park with her mother, language lessons with her father, and holidays in ther grandmother's Great House come to an abrupt end as war comes to her family, separating them as they struggle to survive.

Nonna witnesses first-hand the abuse of starving, freezing German soldiers who stab her dead father through the chest as he lay in bed--after weeks of suffering from injuries inflicted by other German soldiers who had found him hiding in a tunnel connected to a root cellar at her grandmother's home.

Nonna and her mother, Anna, forage for food in the fields and make temporary homes in the abandoned houses of villages whose residents were driven out by retreating Russians or marauding Germans. They rescue a Jewish baby tossed onto a train by her mother only to witness the baby's murder as a Nazi soldier snaps the baby like a twig. They endure the indignities of life in slave labor camps. They are afforded a modicum of comfort when the Nazis discover Nonna's mother's talents as a painter, singer, and violinist. However, when Anna is too tired to perform any more, Gestapo agents break her arms and leave her without medical care.

Throughout the war, Nonna keeps her diaries secreted in a little down pillow that her grandmother had made for her. These diaries survive the war and travel to America with Nonna when she emigrates from Germany in 1950. She keeps to herself the stories they tell until late in her life, when she shares her own translations of them with her husband.

The sole member of her family to survive the war, Nonna becomes a wife and mother of three children in the US. She died in 2004.

Though the pages of these diaries are filled with horrors that defy the imagination, the fact of their being written by a teenaged girl who would go on to live a good and productive life shows that integrity and honesty can trump evil. That Nonna Bannister has the grace to forgive those men who savagely tore her life apart speaks to the power of the soul to heal itself by choosing grace.(less)

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Jan 12, 2012

Jennie Dopp rated it

This book was a bit different than other Holocaust accounts I've read. We know the Holocaust impacted many types of people including those who where not Jewish. This is just one account of a non-Jewish survivor.

It was interesting to read the author’s perspective as a Russian during the war and her interactions with the German Army. Nonna and her family had some connections that benefited them, however they still experienced great hardship and loss. If this was their account of th...more

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Oct 06, 2011

Rich Weiss rated it

Nonna Bannister revealed a gruesome reality that she and her family faced during her experiences growing up in war-torn Europe. Through her notes and diary entries that were reconstructed following her death, her family (and editors) brought provided a heart-felt account of how Nonna's happier days during her childhood, spent with her family at her grandmother's "grand house" turned into a frenzy of killing and madness, and a struggle for survival. Nonna's father had died shortly after...more

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Aug 10, 2011

Vonette rated it

I hate to give this book less than 4 stars because I really think people should read it. The story of Nonna's life is worth hearing. I am glad that I read the book and hope others will as well. There is much to learn from history, and I definitely learned some history (particularly about Russia) which I did not know.

Having said that, I have to also agree with a number of other reviewers that the editing of the book could have been better. Some of the insertions seem to simply r...moreI hate to give this book less than 4 stars because I really think people should read it. The story of Nonna's life is worth hearing. I am glad that I read the book and hope others will as well. There is much to learn from history, and I definitely learned some history (particularly about Russia) which I did not know.

Having said that, I have to also agree with a number of other reviewers that the editing of the book could have been better. Some of the insertions seem to simply repeat much of what Nonna has already clearly explained (IMO) while other things that I would have appreciated more expansion on were given little comment. Furthermore, I felt that some things (such as the role of the pillow, when she received it, how she managed to keep it with her throughout her travels, how the photos ended up inside), I had to piece together from comments here and there or simply conjecture about. Regarding her life after coming to America, there was at least some helpful info at the end of the audiobook version in the form of a telephone interview with Nonna's son and husband. The interview was good to hear, but if I had been putting this book together, I would have begun with much more of this information in order to tantalize the reader into wanting to know more about Nonna's mysterious past after first coming to know a little about what an amazing woman she was in later life. The reader is much more invested in a story when they have been made to take an intest in and care about the main character from the get go.

A number of things (such as the pillow I mentioned above) were never clearly explained. I will give another example. Toward the end of the book, the editor writes that while Nonna's family still has the photos and many of the papers she wrote, the "holocaust diaries" have been lost, the suggestion being that Nonna hid them before her death. Yet, the editor never explains exactly what is meant by the phrase "holocaust diaries." Nonna herself was never in a concentration camp. Did they mean the diaries she kept during her entire time in Germany until the war ended? Did they mean only the ones she kept while in the labor camps? Or maybe they also included the ones she kept during the entire wartime period, including the part of the war she spent in Russia? The only thing I was certain of was that the diaries from her happy childhood times were not lost. Allow me to mention one more example of confusion. Which concentration camp did Nonna's mother die in? I understood Nonna to explain that her mother died in Flossenberg after being transferred from Ravensbruch, but later in the editor's notes and interviews it is stated that she died in Ravensbruch.

Other reviewers have mentioned their frustration at the apparent lack of attempt to discover if Nonna's brother survived. This was actually elaborated on somewhat in the interview I mentioned before ( the one at the end of the audiobook). However, it seems to me that some enterprising person needs to go to Russia and find the "great house" and any information about Nonna's grandmother, brother, and extended family that can be tracked down. Whether any info is actually found, I think readers would be interested to know what attempts were made. Then, the book should be expanded and reorganized with all of the photos included. Under those circumstances it could certainly merit 5 stars. (less)

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Jul 04, 2011

Joan Sherwood rated it

· review of another edition

This is an amazing book. Nonna was a very smart, well educated Russian girl who came from a wealthy, privileged family with a long history of service to the Tsar. Her father taught her several languages as a very young child and this may have saved her life. Her mother was a talented musician and artist and this too played a part in Nonna's survival, and for a time, her mother's survival.

Nonna Bannister kept a diary as a girl and continued as long as she could on scraps of paper ...more

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Jul 01, 2011

E.B. Loan rated it

This story follows the life of Nonna Bannister. Her hand written notes, transcribed into a story, taken after her death to a publisher. Wow. It is amazing. The story itself--gut wrenching. True. Unbearable at times. The history & timeline are unwound and even challenged at times, by the publisher/'author'. I read this book on vacation...in the airport. It was so good, so totally spellbinding, that I could not put it down until the very end.
Even after the war, when Nonna is safe & sound, the...more

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May 24, 2011

Cathy rated it

Shelves: kindle-books

This is a compilation of diaries and later writings by a child (born in 1927) of a well-to-do family who lived in the Ukraine. It tells of the hardships and fears following the Russian revolution, the rise of Stalin, and the family's destruction during the Second World War.
Nonna never told her family of her childhood experiences until she was in her 60s. At that time she showed her husband her diaries and photos that she had managed to save through the war.
At the time of her revelati...more

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Apr 26, 2011

Ashley rated it

I think a lot of people are too critical of this book. Please understand before reading it that this is NOT going to be similar it the diary of Anne Frank because Nonna is not Jewish and is not being pursued and persecuted because of her faith. This is the diary of a privileged young Russian girl whose family survives the Russian Revolution, endures Stalin's rule, German's invasion and occupation of Russia and the Holocaust. As a Russian, Nonna is not subjected to the concentration camps but rat...more

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Apr 16, 2011

Christine Rebbert rated it

It's always difficult to say something such as you "liked" or "enjoyed" a book about the Holocaust. I actually had read this a few years back and forgotten about it until a couple days ago, when I was on some other book website and saw the picture of the book -- and those haunting eyes brought the memory back...

The book is basically what its title suggests it is. Nonna and her mother are taken to the camps, and she manages to obtain little scraps of paper and pe...more

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Apr 08, 2011

Chris rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, kindle, letters-memoirs-trials, history, ww-ii, russia

The only reason why I am giving this book four stars is because the Kindle edition, at least, lacks the photos that are constantly mentioned. I'm not sure if the photos were included in the print edition of the book nor am I sure why the Kindle edition couldn't use them because of the material that does appear in the appendix. But honestly, if you keep mentioning photos in the notes, you should include the photos.

Nonna Bannister was a Russian, who may or may not have been of Jewish...more

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Jun 14, 2010

Kimberly Bartlett rated it

Description:

“Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the Nazi atrocities while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna’s writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the concentration camps and learned the value of human life and the importance of forgiveness.”

Reminiscent of my favorite bo...more

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May 14, 2010

Kristina rated it

Shelves: tyndale-house-publishers, non-fiction, 2010, review, memoir

Nonna Bannister left behind the horrors of her European childhood when she relocated to the United States alone. Having lost all of her family, including her brother Anatoly with whom she was quite close to the Nazi regime, Nonna closed the door on her life in Europe and started afresh in the United States. Throughout her marriage, the birth of her children, and her latter years, she did not speak of the immense cruelty she suffered at the hands of the Germans, however one day, she opened her ...more

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Apr 13, 2010

Janna rated it

I often times hesitate to review non-fiction books because they take me a lot longer to read than fiction books do, they just tend to slow down the rapid rate at which I zip through books. Until now. This may be one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read.

This is the gripping true story of Nonna Bannister and her survival of the Holocaust during WWII as a Russian (though there are strong suspicions that her father had Jewish blood). Her family lost everything and she ...more

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Apr 12, 2010

Nora rated it

This is an amazing story of the courage and faith of a thirteen year old girl living through horrific times. In the first part Nonna talks how she enjoyed her family and what it was like being a kid back then. Her family had many grain mills and was pretty well off...until the war hit and the government took over every single one of their mills. The government allowed them the big family house which they stayed in when the government strongly suggested they evacuate. They stayed to protect what ...moreThis is an amazing story of the courage and faith of a thirteen year old girl living through horrific times. In the first part Nonna talks how she enjoyed her family and what it was like being a kid back then. Her family had many grain mills and was pretty well off...until the war hit and the government took over every single one of their mills. The government allowed them the big family house which they stayed in when the government strongly suggested they evacuate. They stayed to protect what little they had left. Nonna’s grandmother hoped that the house would be a meeting place for their scattered family after the war.

This book is written through Nonna’s tender eyes and how she made sense of things at thirteen. After their Christmas celebration, the war started and rumors spread. No one was sure how close the enemy was. Nonna writes in her diary, “I was confused, angry and sad about what the Germans had done. Also, I was trying to figure out what the Jews had done to be treated this way. There was no reason that I could think of.” She soon found out that no one was safe from the Germans.

Because Nonna's family refused to evacuate, they would be treated as traitors and possibly killed. So, Nonna writes, “…when the Germans offered us transportation to Germany, we had no choice but to take them up on their offer. The Germans needed some laborers in their factories. We heard later that those who stayed behind and did not leave Konstantinowka were thrown on trains and sent to Siberia or killed.”

An adult Nonna writes this, “I believe forgiveness is important. It is to forgive, as God teaches us, but never forget—rather, to apply the truth to our lives in such a way that we do not repeat our sins over and over again.”

This is one powerful story told through innocent eyes, trying to make sense of the world around her. It’s a miracle she has survived to tell this courageous eye witness account. You won't want to miss this one.

Nora St. Laurent
ACFW Book Club Coordinator
Finding Hope Through Fiction
www.psalm516.blogspot.com
(less)

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Apr 07, 2010

Renee rated it

I jumped on this book when it was offered because it's very possible that my ancestors suffered similar atrocities. My maternal grandmother's side of the family is Carpatho-Rusyn from an area that is now Slovakia. I am uncertain of the origin of my maternal grandfather's family - he always said Russian but I've been unable to find immigration records to verify the information. While my immediate family didn't suffer, they came to America soon after the turn of the 20th century, it's possible tha...more

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Sep 04, 2009

Susy Flory rated it

Tea with Nonna: I bought The Secret Holocaust Diaries a few weeks ago and started reading it. What an amazing book! Nonna Bannister was a gifted young Russian girl from a loving, warm, and wealthy family. Caught up in the horror of World War II, she watched everything and everyone she knew and loved disintegrate before her eyes. Yet Nonna miraculously survived, with her faith intact and her secret diaries hidden away, known only to her until recently. What is most astonishing to me was Nonna's l...more

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Jul 28, 2009

Sandra Stiles rated it

Shelves: adult, biography-memoirs

Nonna Bannister grew up in a Christian home in Russian during the time of Stalin and Hitler. This story was originally written on scraps of paper in five different languates and hidden in a small pillow she kept tied around her waist while she was in the labor camp. She didn't share this story with anyone, not even after she came to the United States and got married. She slowly translated her diaries into English. A few years before her death she took her husband by the hand and led him up t...moreNonna Bannister grew up in a Christian home in Russian during the time of Stalin and Hitler. This story was originally written on scraps of paper in five different languates and hidden in a small pillow she kept tied around her waist while she was in the labor camp. She didn't share this story with anyone, not even after she came to the United States and got married. She slowly translated her diaries into English. A few years before her death she took her husband by the hand and led him up the stairs into the attic. There she unlocked the trunks she had hidden her most precious secrets in and handed her husband her translated diaries. Her only request was that he not do anything with them until she was gone. He kept that promise.

The secret holocaust diaries tells of her life in Russia. It reminded me of Anne Frank's diaries and of Corrie ten Booms book "The Hiding Place". All three of these women chose to look at the bright side and not hold grudges or hate those who had imprisoned them. Nonna tells delightful stories of her family and her grandmother. She also writes of the terrible things she witnessed. There were parts of the story where I cried and yet she showed her innocense at times and I just laughed. Her is an example of an event that made me crack up. In this excerpt we find Nonna along with her mother and all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins visiting their grandmother. She wakes up in the morning and sees her youngest cousin wandering around. To make sure he doesn't get hurt or into trouble she follows him around the house. She discovers that every room has a religious icon. She and her cousin, Aljoscha wander into the pantry where they discover a pitcher of heavy breakfast cream and a jar of raspberry preserves, her favorite. Her cousin starts yelling for some so she quickly dips her finger in the preserves and the cream and places it in his mouth. She then takes a taste for herself. Here is the excerpt that followed from page 66.

"Just as we were enjoying 'our breakfast,' I looked up, and there in the corner--yes, in the pantry--was an icon. He was looking straight at me, as though He was saying, 'I saw that!' I knew that I had committed one fo the 'worst' sins--which was to get into something without someone's permission. I had to think quickly. There, near the bottom of the shelf, was a stool. Dipping my finger back into the preserves and into the cream, I stood on the stool; and, barely reaching the icon, I smeared Jesus' lips with it. Now that He had some, surely He woudl 'forgive me'."

The only problems I had with this book were the editor's comments to clarify things which came in the middle of the page. I felt they should have been placed at the bottom of the book and the lack of pictures. We are told throughout the book that there were pictures she brought back with her. There are two shown on the back of the book and that is it. Since this was an ARC maybe they put some in the finished book. No matter, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this period in history.
(less)

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Jun 24, 2009

Meaghan rated it

Shelves: read-in-2009, holocaust, holocaust-memoirs, holocaust-gentile-victims

The title is a misnomer: very little of this book is diary entries. Almost all of it is memoirs written by Nonna Bannister decades after World War II, along with poems she wrote in her youth. Historical notes attempt to add context to Bannister's disjointed and at times confusing narrative.

I didn't find this book to be all that interesting. Bannister writes in great detail about her happy childhood in a wealthy, educated Russian/Polish family, but practically skims over her experienc...more

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Jan 04, 2012

Melissa rated it

Shelves: 2012

I too hate to give this less than 4 stars because it should be read. However, because it is a retelling through a translation of personal childhood diaries, the flow of the story is a bit broken. The addition of the editorial notes, while helping to explain the some phrases or clarify places/persons also disrupts the flow of the story. Regardless, the stories and the Nonna's firsthand accounts make for a worthwhile read.

Nonna recounts her experiences living through WWII under both St...more

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Aug 23, 2011

Michelle Gerber rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: true_lives, holocaust, wishlist, kindle

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 27, 2011

Richard Palmer rated it

This started out rather unexciting, but turned into a very interesting story.

It is not at all like the Diary of Anne Frank, which I had recently read. I found Anne's story to be very much about family relationships and growing up; there was also a unique circumstance she found herself writing in which sharpened the story. Nonna's story includes a lot of detail of what happened to her after Germany invated Russia. It was quite a harrowing tale. Much of the first part of the book i...more

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Apr 25, 2011

Ellie Revert rated it

This week we celebrated Passover with dear friends. His mother is visiting from southern CA. She is a Holocaust survivor, from Odessa which was in Russia--think it's now called the Ukraine--she has become a gifted Holocaust artist with her efforts displayed in the museum in Pasadena, and other places. We were lucky to have them all over Thursday to discuss her life, and we shared the night with more wonderful friends, one of whom is also a Holocaust survivor, who shared his story with us. ...more

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Apr 09, 2011

Erin rated it

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Jan 10, 2012

Kat rated it

This was an Amazon free book that I got. At time of writing this review, the Kindle book was still at $0.00, so I do advice that you get a copy of this while still free.

This was a very chilling read. Not my first holocaust-related book, this book was more horrifying than the first one I read (A Child Al Confino) as, this really had the bone-chilling stuff inside!

Writing about what I felt in different parts of the book would only give the book away or spoil it for some, so I w...moreThis was an Amazon free book that I got. At time of writing this review, the Kindle book was still at $0.00, so I do advice that you get a copy of this while still free.

This was a very chilling read. Not my first holocaust-related book, this book was more horrifying than the first one I read (A Child Al Confino) as, this really had the bone-chilling stuff inside!

Writing about what I felt in different parts of the book would only give the book away or spoil it for some, so I will keep this short.

This actually brought me back to my high school years when we were studying about the WWII. I remember the teacher telling us that "During such times, there is a story that one farmer shared exactly half of all he owned to some stranger that asked him for food." At that time, it striked me that "Wow, what a generous farmer!" Here in the book, it would seem that everyone during such times of need were generous people too, helping each other out.

Another point my teacher brought out at that time was "The Germans suffered when they were in Russia because of the cold," and just stopped at that. So at that time I thought "OK they suffered in Russia because of the cold." Now, some 10 years later, after having been to Harbin and experiencing such cold, and reading this book... it really puts things into perspective. (OK, so I admit, the Germans were brutal too, but hey, they were sent to Russia with the higher-ups not thinking about what they would suffer. So getting frost bitten, and then going into a house to warm up and actually have your ears and nose fall off... or taking off your frozen boots and having the skin and some flesh of your feet being torn off along with the boots... I'm sure it's not a nice feeling too)

Again, I am amazed (in a negative way) how cruel human beings can be. I can't help but wonder how her Grandmother is, if anyone has any news about that. How her brother ended up, and the like. And in the end - forgiveness for it all, but not forgetting. If you forget, then you have not learnt from the past, and history may repeat again; and thus, not to forget.

A very, very, very, touching book. Highly recommended.(less)

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Jan 06, 2012

Karyl rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: nook-reads

What cruelty was unleashed in the world during World War II! Nonna Bannister, born into a wealthy family in Russia, tells of an idyllic childhood, with loving parents and a caring big brother. In the early chapters of the book, she focuses on the Christmas of 1932, an extremely happy time for her entire extended family, as stark contrast to the horrors she witnessed during the Holocaust. Her father had attempted to send his family West before the Germans invaded but was unsuccessful. After s...moreWhat cruelty was unleashed in the world during World War II! Nonna Bannister, born into a wealthy family in Russia, tells of an idyllic childhood, with loving parents and a caring big brother. In the early chapters of the book, she focuses on the Christmas of 1932, an extremely happy time for her entire extended family, as stark contrast to the horrors she witnessed during the Holocaust. Her father had attempted to send his family West before the Germans invaded but was unsuccessful. After sending her brother to safety (or so they thought; he was never heard from once the war started), Nonna and her parents return to her grandmother's Great House. Her father was discovered in hiding and beaten, dying of his injuries not long afterward. Nonna and her mother eventually decide to head to Germany on trains carrying people destined for labor camps, thinking anything would be better than staying in Russia between advancing German troops and retreating Russian troops, but it turns out horrifically for them. Sent to labor camps, half-starved and ill-treated, witnessing horrors that should never been seen, Nonna somehow clings to her faith.

As an aside, I was amazed to see that Nonna had known Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn as a child. I had picked up from a used bookstore and read just recently his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, another book detailing the horrors that man can inflict on his own kind.

I do agree with others who say this book could have benefited from more editing. I read an eBook version of it on my Nook, and it took me a few chapters to realize that the first paragraph was an introduction written by the editors; it was difficult to know this since it was in no way set apart from the rest of the text. I did appreciate the small-print notes that did give more information than Nonna did, but I found the chronology a bit difficult to follow, as it went back and forth between time periods without notice.

This little book really should be read by all, for without knowledge of history, we are destined to repeat it. It also shows that while Jews were the main sufferers of the Holocaust, it also swallowed up other people, of all faiths. (less)

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Aug 04, 2011

Jeanie rated it

Shelves: bio-historical

I very much enjoyed reading this book because of the history and the fight of the human spirit. With all that happened to her and her family, there was an innocence about the family and Nonna's response. There was two things that struck me with this story, one is that she refused to forget the good times in her life. The very early years from when she was two years old and how she treasured that time. She had parents and family that cared deeply and loved well that prepared her for the most...more

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Apr 16, 2010

Lynn rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

One of my favorite genre’s to read is Autobiographies and Memoires and when I got the chance to read this book I couldn’t wait to get started in it. Once I got started it was very hard to put down and I read the book in two settings.

This is the true story of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, who was born in Russia and was able to make the journey to America in 1950. In 1951 she met and married Henry Bannister and for almost all of the 53 years that they were married Nonna kept her...more
One of my favorite genre’s to read is Autobiographies and Memoires and when I got the chance to read this book I couldn’t wait to get started in it. Once I got started it was very hard to put down and I read the book in two settings.

This is the true story of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, who was born in Russia and was able to make the journey to America in 1950. In 1951 she met and married Henry Bannister and for almost all of the 53 years that they were married Nonna kept her life a secret. With their three children grown, she finally decided it was time to let Henry know what she had stored in the attic and about her middle of the night voyages upstairs. As she revealed , documents and her diary written in six different languages she had over the years transcribed them into English. With the promise not to write a book from the diaries until after her death, we now have an account of Nonna’s life and of her family in Russia, before and during the WWII.

From the beginning of the book one soon realizes this is not a novel. This is in all accounts a family history, and the life story of Nonna who describes her life in Russia before the war and Communism overtook the country. How as far as she know all of her family was lost. How up until her mother was taken away from her and sent to a camp on Nonna’s 16th birthday. The story of a young girl who had the courage and the faith that God would see her through.
One thinks of the Holocaust concerning only the Jewish people but one does not realize that also involved were the Russians and Polish immigrants, or they were separated and sent to the slave camps. How the Russian government killed their own people and destroyed their homes to keep the Germans from getting any of it. The story does reveal the happy times that Nonna had in the late 20’s and early 30’s before the change and the beginning of the war when Nonna sees and experienced eye witness accounts of the torment and torture that the Germans inflicted upon the Jewish people. Able to communicate in six different languages helped Nonna in her chances of survival.
This is a very compelling but inspiring account inside one of the most offensive and horrible acts against humans during the war. Being raised to always believe and have faith in God helped to substain Nonna through the war years, through the brutality and murder and the evil hearts of the Nazi Germany, from her grandmother, to a young Jewish boy named Nathan to the Catholic Nuns and the Priests in the hospital that kept her from being sent to a camp or back to Russia, to the Germans who after the war tried to keep her in Germany to work there in the hospitals.

I highly recommend this book for all from teens through adults. For those that think it never happened …. For those that think it could not happen again….. it very well could.

I would like to thank Tyndale House Publisher for kindly providing a complimentary copy of this book to read and review.
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