A beautiful, devastating read that left me feeling a sense of a bittersweet-like calm, as if I were caught in a reverie. This is an important read and I highly recommend it.

When reading this book, we have to remember that it is a diary of a teenaged girl. Some reviews that I have read are critical of the writing or content, but we have to remember that even while WWII and German occupation took place....the children were still growing up and still trying to be children.... and teenagers will be teenagers! I believe that it would prove helpful to read the Epilogue and Elizabeth’s Commentary at the back of the book before reading the actual book! I read them afterwards and some things meant more because of it. It won’t give away any spoilers, because after all we know how it will end, but it gives more insight into the young girl, her family, how she was raised and maybe even why she did some of the many things she did at such stressful times. What we read is heartwarming, heartbreaking, and eye-opening into the lives of people just trying to make it through. I did find it difficult reading in that the names were so difficult for me to keep track of because there were so many characters that were a part of Renia’s life. I’m not much of a poetry person, but Renia had a very real talent at the poetry she wrote, helping her to express her feelings. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC in return for an honest review, which this has been. #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress

This book is about a young girl who lived in Poland prior to WW 2 it is her diary with her musings and poems. I found it flowed easily. This girl was a loss to the literary world.
#netgalley #stmartinspress

Renia’s Diary is a novel that I can see as being a required reading assignment for high school. It was not an easy read, but rather a raw look at a young Polish girl’s life before and during the Holocaust shown through diary entries she wrote. I found that the ending written through the voice of Renia’s sister was easier and more comfortable, and I was more interested and invested in reading that part that than I was the rest of the novel. That being said, I also see this as an important piece of work with valuable historical information and I thank her sister for sharing this with all of us.

My favorite part of this book was the Commentary by Renia's younger sister, Ariana (Elizabeth) near the end of the book. Renia's diary read much like what I remember from when I was a teenager which consisted of relationships with male and female friends and acquaintances, school difficulties, parties and worrying about boyfriends. Renia was obviously a very gifted writer and her diary included a lot of poems most of which I just skimmed over because I am not into poetry. The book was good but I thought quite sad especially when she talks about her mother being gone for such long periods of time. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this very interesting book.

I'm not rating this one-I feel enormous gratitude to Renia's sister for having her sister's diary published. Renia is a Holocaust victim and her diary is testament to another voiceless person that we have lost to that horrible period in our history.
I was unable to get through the diary though because it's just that, a teenager's diary. There are tons of details about Renia's friends and the guy that she has a crush on but it's still a diary. I feel like the audience for this would be other teens. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC though!

This is hard to read.
It is about a young girl caught in the times of Hitler and his regime. She is Jewish and is separated from her parents and living with her grandparents.
At 15, it becomes obvious as you read, that she is devastated by this separation and it seems as if her grandparents are not very close to her.
Still she continues on with her young girl life. Having friends, going to school. Even meeting a young man she really cares for.. The families in this area are forced to wear arm bands, moved to a ghetto, made fun of by non Jewish people.
I don't know if Renia ever really understood the war or just poured her pain, angst and confusion into her poetry.
There is a lot of poetry. Very good poetry. I won't tell you how the end comes for her.
It will probably make you think a little harder on the issues of immigration we have in our country now, what is like to be separated from what and who you are.

Before I start my actual review, I have to say that I feel a little bad for having read this, but not the book my own nation’s biggest diarist, Anne Frank. I should feel ashamed of this, but I guess it is what it is.

The introduction to Renia’s Diary offers some great points on the difference between a diary and a memoir. It definitely opened my eyes a bit and helped me set different expectations. However, I do think it already gave away quite a lot of the story to come. It might have been better to leave out parts of the story here and include any explanations of those in the epilogue.

Besides the introduction, I have to admit that I did not enjoy this book too much. I had a hard time connecting with Renia and her story. There wasn’t a lot going on besides the boys she was dating and the friends she liked one minute and disliked the next. Also, there were just so many names and characters that were never properly introduced that just complicated the story for me and left it unreadable at times.

The language was also rather strange. It felt stiff and formal, which is weird for a diary. And I know that it was written about 80 years ago and I also know that it was translated from Polish, but it still didn’t feel right to me
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The entries reminded me a bit of my own diaries that I used to write when I was about Renia’s age. However, I don’t plan on ever publishing them because they’re personal and not very interesting for anyone other than me. I felt disappointed that it reminded me of my own diaries, because that just meant that it was much too heavy on the girl trouble and way too light on the aspects that had to do with WW2, and those were the passages that I was interested in reading most.

Thanks netgalley and the publisher for the copy I received to read.
This is a diary of a typical teenager yet it isn’t typical because of the events happening around her life at the time it was written. I like that it shows how even when things are terrifying around you the emotions you have about every day life are still real. I think this would be a good read for teenagers to see the normal in the chaos of society. I can’t imagine the terrifying experiences those who lived in that time went through. Heart breaking.

I've seen a lot of other reviews mentioning that this book is hard to rate. I think mainly because people go into reading a book that is the diary of a teenage girl in Poland during WW2, and they expect more commentary and personal insight into the war. This book, or at least the actual section that is her diary, reads exactly like a teenage girl's diary, at almost any point in history. It was very clear that she was not writing with any idea that it would be published or would be looked at as a snapshot into the life of a Holocaust victim. Her diary reminded me exactly of what my own diary was like as a teenager (which I incidentally started after reading Anne Frank's diary). She even addresses this at some point in the diary, when her friend is afraid to write about a boy she likes in case people read it and think she's some vain, stupid girl. I liked her response: "Firstly, why do you care about other people reading it? You're writing it for yourself, And secondly, is your dearest, intimate diary to be a political almanac or an almanac of your heart??? Somebody very harsh, with a stony heart, might say what you thought. Every normal human being should rather say, 'This was written by a young, 16-year old girl who loved so deeply...'"

It would have given more context to some of the diary entries, however, if her sister's notes weren't saved for the end of the book. It would have been nice to see the notes follow the corresponding diary entry. For example, if Renia's May 12, 1942 entry was followed immediately by her sister's May 12, 1942 notes. Those notes make the diary so much sadder in a way. Renia glossed over so many of the terrible things that were happening. Once you read in further detail about what they were going through, it's so clear she didn't write in detail because they were horrible things she really didn't want to remember. She really tried to keep her focus on her friends and her life as a teenager.

The very end of the diary was so heartbreaking. All of the entries were filled with terror. It was a very strange feeling to approach the end of the diary, and reading her say how much she wants to live, and knowing she doesn't have much time left. It was truly heartbreaking, as she was talking about having a greed for life and how little she had a chance to experience. She says in one of her poems:

I got what I could out of life
a lot, but still not enough.

What is the difference between a diary and a memoir? Both seek to tell of the writer's life in intimate and personal language. But, a memoir knows the end of the story, whereas a diary does not. Hmmm. I never thought of that distinction.

Here in Renia's own sweet words are the observations of Nazi Germany through the eyes of a child. A child who does not know what the end of the story will be.

I read this EARC courtesy of St. Martin's Press and Net Galley Pub date 09/24/19

Renia's Diary
A Holocaust Journal

by Renia Spiegel


St. Martin's Press

Biographies & Memoirs

Pub Date 24 Sep 2019


I am reviewing a copy of Renia’s Diary through St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley:



Renia Spiegel was born in 1924 to an upper Middle Class Jewish Family living in Southeastern Poland, near at what the time was bordered with Romania. She began her diary in 1939 a diary that she considered a friend that she could share everyday worries and joys with. A friend she knew could not be human. By the fall of 1939 Renia and her younger sister Elizabeth (née Arianna) we’re 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.



Renia much like Anne Frank, used her diary to record her daily life as the Nazi’s spread throughout Europe. Renia tells of her mundane school life, falling in love with her boyfriend Zygmund, as well as the pain of missing her Mother. They were separated by bombs and invading armies.
Renia like Anne Frank had dreams of becoming a writer, and often included poems she had written in her diary. When Renia was forced into the Ghetto with other Jews Zygmund wasable to take Renia and his parents out, but ultimately it was not to safety Renia and Zygmund’s parents were murdered by the Gestapo in July of 1942 when the diary ends.



I give Renia’s Diary five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

In 1939, a fourteen year old girl began to keep a dairy. Her diary was her friend, a way to share her private thoughts, secret and dreams. This book presents many of her diary entries. She writes about school, parties and activities, and the ups and downs of girl friends, boyfriends and family. The diary is where she also shares her lovely poetry. What makes this diary a treasure is that the girl was a Jewish girl living in Poland. Her diary entries end on July 30, 1942.

In the introduction to the book, Deborah E. Lipstadt, a professor of Holocaust history notes a diary is different from a memoir, in that a diary is immediate and day-to-day. A diary writer shares current events in the moment, not filtered through the passage of time, and reflection. So Renia, who lives through the first years of World War II, writes about what matters to her. And what matters to her is fixing problems with her girl friends, and longing for a boyfriend, and doing well on a math test. Of course, for readers 80 years later, that is what makes this diary so wrenching and heart-breaking, as we know what this young girl will face.

Renia’s younger sister Elizabeth Bellak adds an epilogue and commentary which gives some context about the history of the times. She also tells how Renia’s diary came to be given to her, which is amazing that she now has the diary. Elizabeth’s story is also incredible and I hope she shares more about her own life. I sincerely thank St Martin’s Press for this book. Never forget.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press forma digital review copy. This is my honest review.

Renia's Diary is the true life journal of Renia Spiegel and her life as a Jewish teenager throughout World War 2. I
She is 15 when the journal begins and so it is mostly about her friendships, her quarrels, and her crushes on boys. Throughout she writes very lovely poetry (poems are very dear to Renia). She discusses her fears about the war and how much she desperately misses her mother, but often sticks to the topic of boys and boyfriends. To me, her sister's notes at the end are even more fascinating and clear.

Renia's Diary is an excellent, but sad read. Renia was an 18 year old Polish girl who was tragically killed by the Nazis. She left behind a 700 paged diary that is a fascinating account. For most of the diary, it's typical teenage girl stuff. Renia is very blatant in her observations of her friends and classmates, which was entertaining. The war is barely mentioned. But as Poland is overran by the Germans, her life tunes more stringent. Much of the second half of the diary is about her boyfriend, who preserved the diary. How the diary was returned to her family was a story in and of itself.
I appreciated the sister's footnotes which helped fill in the voids, especially with family history.

Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal is a diary of a young teenage girl during the Holocaust. It is very important to read these first accounts of the terrible time in history.
Four stars.

Beautiful but haunting journal of everyday life in Europe under the Nazis. Renia Spiegel was a gifted writer and this book (english translation) really brings the reader into Renia's everyday life in the ghetto. Like Anne Frank's diary, I knew the ending ahead of time but the sense of loss is combined with a wondering of what might have been for this young girl. I enjoyed this very much.

I would like to thank netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in return for my honest review. Wow!! I love historical fiction!!! This definitely did not disappoint!!! I would highly recommend it his to anyone else who has a love of HF and especially WW2!!!

I feel a little churlish saying how little I engaged with this book, for it's obviously a labour of love and a heartfelt production from the family members who knew the author. But this diary had too little of the War for me, far too much poetry about the angst teenaged love involves, and far too much weeping for her mother. I can see a readership similar to Renia empathising more, but at the remove in age, experience and gender that I have, I didn't gel with many of the contents here. I couldn't recommend the Holocaust expert rush to these pages – the phoney war seems to go on twice as long as previously thought, for one. So it's down to Renia's surviving younger sister to give her testimony about the life she got to lead, and background information, that partly helps the fact the diary pages needed annotation, and certainly hoiks the interest levels up.

As more and more Holocaust survivors pass away, it’s important that people read about their experiences so that they won’t be forgotten, and hopefully, something like that will never happen again.

Renia’s Diary is a written record about a young Polish girl who, unfortunately, did not survive. She was smart, kind, and full of hope for her future. She was a budding poet, and had won awards at her school for her poetry. Her diary is similar to those of many teens - reflecting the angst about relationships and friendships, her social life, the feelings of first love, and thoughts about her family. But as the years go on, there’s a sense of fear as the Jews of her little town are persecuted more and more by the Nazis. A real sense of sadness begins to seep in. Yet she holds out hope for what still might be possible.

But, for me, the most interesting part of the book was the Epilogue and Commentary written by Renia’s sister, Ariana (Elizabeth). It is here that the diary is put into context and we learn more about the lives of the sisters. Ariana explains in more detail what was happening in their world and what happened to the people that Reina wrote about in her diary.

Thank you to Net Galley, Ariana (Elizabeth) Bellak, and St. Martin’s Press for giving me the opportunity to read Renia’s diary.