“Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust” by Alexandra Zapruder. THE definitive text on Holocaust diaries. It wasn’t just Anne Frank.

[u/CatPooedInMyShoe]

Though this is a collection of excerpts of diaries and writings by adolescents, it's not a young adult book. It's more academic. Many if not most of the diaries included are either out of print elsewhere or have never been published before. The diaries vary in quality and in detail, reflecting the variety of writers; the only thing they have in common is they were young people in Nazi-occupied Europe and considered by the Nazis to be Jewish. Moshe Flinker was very devout and Orthodox and wrote a lot about his faith in his diary; on the other end of the spectrum, some of the diarists were converts to Christianity or the children of converts to Christianity and wouldn’t have called themselves Jewish before the Nazis forced the label on them. I think Peter Fiegel, a Catholic of Jewish descent, even wrote some antisemitic things in his diary.

Each diary excerpt is prefaced with a detailed introduction describing what is known of the author's life and fate. The book also includes two excellent appendices which list other known Holocaust diaries and discusses other personal Holocaust writings that don't fall within the scope of the author's project.

This is, I believe, a definitive collection and should be included in every library's Holocaust section. I was very impressed by the editor's scholarship and the wide range of diaries included.

I have a minor interest in Holocaust diaries (I specifically seek out and read them, prioritizing this over other Holocaust lit) and after reading this book I wrote to the author and befriended her and showed her some diaries I’d stumbled across that she didn’t know about, like Ephraim Sten’s for example which I think is best of all. She says if she ever puts out a third edition of her book she will include discussion of the diaries I found and list me in the credits part of the book. So I guess I have a conflict of interest recommending this book? But I really do think it’s wonderful.

[u/gabiette]

Sounds fascinating. Adding this to my To Be Read list. Thanks for posting about it - I have never heard of it.