Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna's writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the concentration camps and learned the value of human life and the importance of forgiveness.
For a half century,
a horrible secret lay hidden,
locked in a trunk in an attic...
Photos, official documents, and scraps of a diary written by a nine-year-old girl...
I kept secret my horror stories.
I am an old woman now.
It is time to tell my story.
The Secret Holocaust Diaries is a haunting eyewitness account of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, a remarkable Russian-American woman who had seen and survived the unspeakable evils of the Holocaust as a young girl. For half a century, she kept her story secret while living a normal American life. She locked all her photos, documents, diaries, and dark memories from World War II in a trunk. Late in life, she unlocked the trunk, first for her husband, and now for the rest of the world.
Nonnaβs story is one of suffering, torture, and death--but also of incredible acts of kindness that show the ultimate triumph of faith and love over despair and evil. The Secret Holocaust Diaries is in part a tragedy, yet itβs also an unforgettable true story about forgiveness, courage, and hope.
Born into an aristocratic Russian family, Nonna Lisowskaja fully expected to enjoy a cultured, privileged life. Her family had many advantages at a time when other Russians struggled to buy food. By her sixth birthday, Nonna spoke four languages. She had a good life.
But then her life fell apart.
The Nazis invaded Russia.
And, though her family was not Jewish, she lost everything . . .
except a few family photos and scraps of a journal hidden from the Nazis in a small pillow.
This is her story.