Book description
'The most moving Holocaust diary published since Anne Frank' Telegraph
Helga's Diary is a young girl's remarkable first-hand account
of life in a concentration camp during World War II. Like The Diary
of Anne Frank this is a publication of international importance
and a book that will endure for decades.
In 1938, when her diary begins, Helga is eight years old. Alongside
her father and mother and the 45,000 Jews who live in Prague, she
endures the Nazi invasion and regime: her father is denied work,
schools are closed to her, she and her parents are confined to their
flat. Then deportations begin, and her friends and family start to disappear.
In 1941, Helga and her parents are sent to the concentration camp of
Terez n, where they live for three years. Here Helga documents their
daily life - the harsh conditions, disease and suffering, as well as
moments of friendship, creativity and hope - until, in 1944, they are
sent to Auschwitz. Helga leaves her diary behind with her uncle, who
bricks it into a wall to preserve it.
Helga's father is never heard of again, but miraculously Helga and
her mother survive the horrors of Auschwitz, the gruelling transports
of the last days of the war, and manage to return to Prague. As Helga
writes down her experiences since Terez n, completing the diary, she
is fifteen and a half. She is one of only a tiny number of Czech Jews
who have survived.
Reconstructed from her original notebooks, which were later
retrieved from Terez n, and from the loose-leaf pages on which Helga
wrote after the war, the diary is presented here in its entirety,
accompanied by an interview with Helga and illustrated with the
paintings she made during her time at Terez n. As such, Helga's
Diary is one of the most vivid and comprehensive testimonies
written during the Holocaust ever to have been recovered.
Helga Weiss was born in Prague in 1929. Her father Otto was employed
in the state bank in Prague and her mother Irena was a dressmaker. Of
the 15,000 children brought to Terez n and later deported to
Auschwitz, only 100 survived the Holocaust. Helga was one of them. On
her return to Prague she studied art and has become well known for her
paintings. The drawings and paintings that Helga made during her time
in Terez n, which accompany this diary, were published in 1998 in the
book Draw What You See (Zeichne, was Du siehst). Her
father's novel And God saw that it was bad, written during his
time in Terez n and which she illustrated, was published in 2010. In
1954 Helga married the musician Jiri Hosek. She has two children,
three grandchildren and lives to this day in the flat where she was born.
Helga Weiss was born in Prague in 1929. Her father Otto was employed
in the state bank in Prague and her mother Irena was a dressmaker. Of
the 15,000 children brought to Terez n and later deported to Auschwitz,
only 100 survived the Holocaust. Helga was one of them. On her return to
Prague she studied art and has become well known for her paintings. The
drawings and paintings that Helga made during her time in Terez n, which
accompany this diary, were published in 1998 in the book
Draw What
You See
(
Zeichne, was Du siehst
). Her father's novel
And God saw that it was bad
, written during his time in Terez n and which she illustrated, was
published in 2010. In 1954 Helga married the musician Jiri Hosek. She
has two children, three grandchildren and lives to this day in the flat
where she was born.
