History of the Diary

  1. The first preserved entry in Rywka’s diary. She started writing under the influence of her friend Sarah Zelwer and her teacher and mentor Fajga Zelicka.

  2. The last entry in Rywka’s diary. The unfinished sentence still remains a mystery – why did Rywka stop writing and didn’t finish the sentence?

  3. Soviet army doctor Zinaida Berezovskaya finds 56 sheets covered in tiny handwriting not far from the ruins of Crematorium III in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

  4. Staying in Warsaw, Zinaida is trying to have the diary translated. People she asked are not able to decipher and understand the text. Zinaida takes the diary to her home in Omsk, as an important and valuable souvenir.

  5. Zinaida dies. Her son takes the diary to Moscow.

  6. Zinaida’s son dies. Her granddaughter Anastasia finds the diary. Anastasia lives in San Francisco since 1993. She takes the diary with her to the United States.

  7. Anastasia brings the diary to the Holocaust Center of Northern California in San Francisco. The staff of this Center begin examining the document. Ewa Wiatr, Polish historian from Łódź university gets involved in further research.

  8. The first edition of the diary is published in English as “Rywka’s Diary. The Writings of a Jewish Girl from the Lodz Ghetto” by JFCS Holocaust Center in San Francisco and Lehrhaus Judaica.

  9. The first Polish edition of Rywka’s diary is published by Austeria Publishing House.