the secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister Review

The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Nonna Bannister

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Nonna Bannister left behind the horrors of her European childhood when she relocated to the United States alone.  Having lost all of her family, including her brother Anatoly with whom she was quite close to the Nazi regime, Nonna closed the door on her life in Europe and started afresh in the United States.  Throughout her marriage, the birth of her children, and her latter years, she did not speak of the immense cruelty she suffered at the hands of the Germans, however one day, she opened her secret place in the attic to her husband.  Looking at her journals written in many different languages (Nonna knew at least five fluently) her husband wondered how he would read these memoirs that were written in a tongue he didn't know.  It was then that Nonna produced the legal pads.  Piles of legal notepads full of her translations.  This book is the meat of those notepads.

the secret Holocaust Diaries is Nonna's true story of her experiences at the hands of the Germans.  It chronicles her childhood before the Germans came to power and continues through he imprisonment at a labor camp through until her death.  With a memoir, I feel the story cannot be critiqued because this is not a plot fabricated in the mind of an author--this is a person's life; their experience.  Therefore any critique is my opinion on the writing style and/or how much I enjoyed the book.

That being said, I don't think enjoy is the correct word to use when referring to reading a true story about the Holocaust.  This book was intriguing and poignantly written.  I will warn that it is a detailed account of Nonna's experiences and there are some VERY disturbing interactions that take place.  What more can one expect from a Holocaust memoir.  If you enjoy reading memoirs or Holocaust based titles, this book is a must-read.  Again, I would caution however that one should be mindful of the age of those who read this.

This book was provided by Tyndale House Publishers for review purposes.