Youth Diaries

Diaries and journals can illustrate events in a unique way and give researchers a greater understanding of history. While many people kept diaries during the Holocaust, most were lost. However, some diaries survived and were later published. The resources below provide a glimpse into the lives of young people in ghettos, concentration camps, and in hiding during the war.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Books

Mary Berg – The diary of Mary Berg: growing up in the Warsaw ghetto

Zlata Filipovic – Stolen voices: young people’s war diaries, from World War I to Iraq

Anne Frank – The diary of Anne Frank: the critical edition

Petr Ginz – The diary of Petr Ginz, 1941-1942

Laurel Holliday – Children in the Holocaust and World War II: their secret diaries

Elena Vladimirovna Mukhina – The diary of Lena Mukhina: a girl’s life in the siege of Leningrad

Hannah Senesh – Hannah Senesh: her life and diary

Alexandra Zapruder – Salvaged pages: young writers’ diaries of the Holocaust

Search Terms

Children and war

Frank, Anne, — 1929-1945 — Diaries

Jewish children in the Holocaust — Diaries

World War, 1939-1945 — Children –Biography

World War, 1939-1945 — Personal narratives, Jewish

Youth — Diaries

Online Resources

Anne Frank and Her Diary

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Children’s Diaries During the Holocaust

Yad Vashem: Excerpts from Diaries, Memoirs, and Letters

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe: Holocaust Diaries