Author: Nonna Bannister
Version: ebook
Published: April 1st, 2009Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Number of Pages: 244
ISBN: 9781414330242
Genre: Holocaust Non-Fiction
Voice: First Person Diary
I want to do this review a little differently, mainly because this was a very different type of book. Nonna Bannister was a holocaust survivor. She lost her entire family, went through quite a number of the various work camps, and almost lost her life on more then one occasion. Through it all she kept diaries, scraps of paper hidden taped to her body or tucked into the straw of a mattress. She wrote everything down, the last good times she had with her family, the day her brother was taken away and never seen again, the death of her father, the baby she watched being killed. Every detail of her time was written down and remembered vividly.
When she was an old woman living in America with her husband, her children long moved out, she finally revealed to her husband what she had been hiding from him all their lives together. She showed him her diaries, that she had been slowly translating into English. What he learned shook him to his core and made him love and respect his wife all the more.
I have always been morbidly fascinated with WWII, mainly because I just don't understand it. I can't understand how it happened or why it did. Many people feel this way but I seek to learn all I can about it in order to understand any part of it that I can. Once I learned that this was about the holocaust I was intrigued. To tell the truth I hadn't yet read anything about what it was like for Russians during WWII and so I was doubly intrigued about this.
I started to read it and I was slightly disappointed. As it was a diary, mainly a child's diary, the writing was slightly disjointed and not all that great. To make matters worse there were interjections from the editors explaining a phrase or word that broke up the flow of the story in rather uncomfortable ways. All of that is not to say that this wasn't an incredible story. Because it really was an intense and moving story. Reading about all that Nonna saw and went through was tough but inspiring because she survived it. She wasn't bitter or overly depressed about any of it, Nonna Bannister was a really amazing woman.
When she passed away her family made sure that her tale was told, not to seek retribution or fame but just so that her amazing story was shared with the world and so that the world would know what a truly beautiful survivor she was. I'm glad I read it, it is a story that should indeed be read by all. It is rather hard to describe what it was like reading this because it is such a personal story and each reader has to experience it for themselves. This book is one that everyone has to decide on their own if they want to read it or not. I will say these things though, it is an intense read, it isn't all that well written or put together, but it is beautiful in many ways and very inspiring. Nonna Bannister was a woman to look up to in many ways and her diaries show the truth of that over and over again. "The Secret Holocaust Diaries" is something that needs to be shared and so I am sharing it with you dear readers and I hope that you find the time to read it because seeing how Nonna Bannister makes it through is truly mind boggling.
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