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Helgan päiväkirja - Nuorena tyttönä keskitysleirillä
Kansainvälisesti merkittävä kirja, hämmästyttävän välitön ja poikkeuksellisen tärkeä ensi käden holocaust-todistus.
Helga aloitti päiväkirjansa 8-vuotiaana 1938. Hän koki vanhempiensa ja noin 40 000 Prahan juutalaisen lailla natsimiehityksen jälkeisen rotusyrjinnän: hänen isältään evättiin työ, häneltä itseltään koulu, eikä perhe voinut lopulta oleskella juuri muualla kuin asunnossaan. Vähitellen natsit paljastivat täydet suunnitelmansa ja aloittivat juutalaisten kuljetukset, ja vuonna 1941 Helga ja hänen vanhempansa vietiin Terezínin keskitysleiriin, missä he olivat kolme vuotta.
Vuonna 1944 Helgan isä passitettiin Auschwitziin. Helga ja hänen äitinsä hankkiutuivat mukaan tajuamatta, mikä heitä odotti. Helgan setä muurasi hänen päiväkirjansa seinään, jotta se säilyisi. Auschwitzissa Helgan isä surmattiin, mutta kuin ihmeen kautta Helga ja äiti selvisivät leiristä ja pääsivät lopulta takaisin Prahaan. Kirjoittaessaan muistiin Terezínin jälkeisiä kokemuksiaan Helga oli viidentoista ja puolen ikäinen ja yksi kaupungin harvoista juutalaisista.
Helga aloitti päiväkirjansa 8-vuotiaana 1938. Hän koki vanhempiensa ja noin 40 000 Prahan juutalaisen lailla natsimiehityksen jälkeisen rotusyrjinnän: hänen isältään evättiin työ, häneltä itseltään koulu, eikä perhe voinut lopulta oleskella juuri muualla kuin asunnossaan. Vähitellen natsit paljastivat täydet suunnitelmansa ja aloittivat juutalaisten kuljetukset, ja vuonna 1941 Helga ja hänen vanhempansa vietiin Terezínin keskitysleiriin, missä he olivat kolme vuotta.
Vuonna 1944 Helgan isä passitettiin Auschwitziin. Helga ja hänen äitinsä hankkiutuivat mukaan tajuamatta, mikä heitä odotti. Helgan setä muurasi hänen päiväkirjansa seinään, jotta se säilyisi. Auschwitzissa Helgan isä surmattiin, mutta kuin ihmeen kautta Helga ja äiti selvisivät leiristä ja pääsivät lopulta takaisin Prahaan. Kirjoittaessaan muistiin Terezínin jälkeisiä kokemuksiaan Helga oli viidentoista ja puolen ikäinen ja yksi kaupungin harvoista juutalaisista.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
408 people are currently reading
2830 people want to read
About the author
Helga Weiss
2 books14 followersHelga Hošková-Weissová, also Helga Weiss, (born 10 November 1929) is a Czech artist, and a Holocaust survivor. She is known for her drawings that depict life at Terezín and her diary, which was published in 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews
September 5, 2018
The things this poor girl had to endure makes my heart hurt. The conditions, the work, the environment, and most importantly the separation from her dear father. Luckily, Helga was able to stay close to her mother despite the pair of them being constantly unwell, and almost dying from lack of proper food. I just cannot even begin to imagine leaving friends, family, home and every sense of normality you have grown up with to be escorted from place to place in a van with terrified, screaming, unwell people, who are either deemed fit to work, or too ill to live. It was thought that people with glasses posed a threat because of their intelligence and they were dispatched immediately. Heartbreaking account, but I was so relieved that she survived I had to sit quietly for 20 minutes to let it all sink in.
October 19, 2013
I learned about Helga Weiss this summer when my family and I went to Europe for the purpose of retracing my mother-in-law's journey from Prague to Terezin to Auschwitz. Both she and Helga were among the fortunate 100 children to survive the Holocaust, and they led very different lives after the war years. When we visited Terezin, we learned about the plethora of paintings and writings among the residents, including that of the children. Helga had an entire wall devoted to her drawings and paintings, both sketches and color, as she followed her father's instructions:"Draw what you see." Upon our return from Europe I learned about the publication of this diary, and couldn't wait to read it.
I like to think that maybe my mother in law and Helga knew each other while they were at Terezin. Both were from Prague, and maybe Helga was about two or three years younger. As I read the diary, I was able to visualize the setting both in Terezin and at Auschwitz. Helga's original diary was secured by an uncle who spent the war years at Terezin; he was able to hide it under a brick when Helga and her mother were transported. After the war, he gave it to her, and she was able to edit it and add her Auschwitz experiences to it. There are footnotes to explain terms and events to the reader, and Helga's determination to survive is evident through most of her writings. The fact that both she and her mother survived is quite a miracle. My mother in law lost her entire family, and was adopted by relatives in South America. Helga and her mother went back to Prague, where they were able to recover their apartment and lived through the Cold War and occupation of the Russians. Helga married and raised her children in the apartment in which she was born. The interview with her at the end of the book gives a picture of what life was like after the war, and how Helga adapted to conditions under another ruling regime. I learned a lot from this book, and it was definitely more vivid for me since I had visited many of the sites mentioned, including the Pinkas synagogue, where the names of the families and individuals who lost their lives are inscribed on the walls. This is a very interesting and vivid account of the Holocaust years.
I like to think that maybe my mother in law and Helga knew each other while they were at Terezin. Both were from Prague, and maybe Helga was about two or three years younger. As I read the diary, I was able to visualize the setting both in Terezin and at Auschwitz. Helga's original diary was secured by an uncle who spent the war years at Terezin; he was able to hide it under a brick when Helga and her mother were transported. After the war, he gave it to her, and she was able to edit it and add her Auschwitz experiences to it. There are footnotes to explain terms and events to the reader, and Helga's determination to survive is evident through most of her writings. The fact that both she and her mother survived is quite a miracle. My mother in law lost her entire family, and was adopted by relatives in South America. Helga and her mother went back to Prague, where they were able to recover their apartment and lived through the Cold War and occupation of the Russians. Helga married and raised her children in the apartment in which she was born. The interview with her at the end of the book gives a picture of what life was like after the war, and how Helga adapted to conditions under another ruling regime. I learned a lot from this book, and it was definitely more vivid for me since I had visited many of the sites mentioned, including the Pinkas synagogue, where the names of the families and individuals who lost their lives are inscribed on the walls. This is a very interesting and vivid account of the Holocaust years.
July 19, 2013
I enjoyed this book expect for one flaw--the editing. There are incessant notes telling us "this sentence was added later" or "we removed a section here", "Helga actually means blank" etc. These notes interrupted the flow of the writing and just became annoying. I understand the desire for historical accuracy, but when so obsessively overdone, it doesn't work for a prose diary. With a better editor, this diary could be quite good.
January 13, 2019
Os desenhos rabiscados por uma criança tem um poder impactante pois transmitem muito do que não conseguem transmitir por palavras.
Estas são a prova viva das atrocidades levadas a cabo nos campos de concentração, constituindo um crime de roubo da infância. Com entradas de diário, que funcionam como amparadoras muletas, conseguem transmitir a fome e a sede pelas alimentações precárias não completas, as dores pelos trabalhos árduos sem descanso compensatório, o frio pelos abrigos ao relento e as mantas parcas e molhadas, as picadas dos percevejos, únicos amigos dos casebres...
Um retrato gritante e delineado para demonstrar a realidade passada e nunca deverá tornar-se presente novamente!
Estas são a prova viva das atrocidades levadas a cabo nos campos de concentração, constituindo um crime de roubo da infância. Com entradas de diário, que funcionam como amparadoras muletas, conseguem transmitir a fome e a sede pelas alimentações precárias não completas, as dores pelos trabalhos árduos sem descanso compensatório, o frio pelos abrigos ao relento e as mantas parcas e molhadas, as picadas dos percevejos, únicos amigos dos casebres...
Um retrato gritante e delineado para demonstrar a realidade passada e nunca deverá tornar-se presente novamente!
November 1, 2018
A good story of bravery and hope. The style is sometimes too simple, didn’t like the format of the book, it was written by a young girl later edited by the author, too many editing comments.
July 19, 2018
I bought this book in Prague that was recommended by a guide on a tour through Jewish Prague. Helga was a young girl when the Nazi’s occupated Prague. Her diary as Jewish girl growing up in Prague was enlightening to me about her experiences in a concentration camp near Prague-Terezin. This camp even though it was very grim, dirty, with little food, was better than death camps like Auschwitz. Helga was able to survive the war.
Compared to The Diary of Anne Frank, the writing was not as good. She edited the diary after the war, so the entries did not seem as authentic or emotionally realistic. However, what this book special to me were Helga’s drawings and paintings she included portraying life in the camps. Helga became an artist after the war and her talent is clearly showcased in her art.
Compared to The Diary of Anne Frank, the writing was not as good. She edited the diary after the war, so the entries did not seem as authentic or emotionally realistic. However, what this book special to me were Helga’s drawings and paintings she included portraying life in the camps. Helga became an artist after the war and her talent is clearly showcased in her art.
January 27, 2021
Helga Weiss enjoys a happy, childhood in Prague loved by family and many close friends.
Then in 1939 Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia and everything in Helga’s world suddenly changes.
Jewish children are forbidden from attending public schools.
Their parents lose jobs, bank accounts, and valuable property.
They are forced from their homes into a ghetto, where many families must live together.
Helga and her parents were imprisoned in four Nazi concentration camps:
Terezin, Auschwitz, Freiburg and Mauthausen.
A few days after her 12th birthday in 1941.
She kept a diary, in words pictures during these years.
In the diary, she describes their daily misery lives from slow starvation, sickness, forced Labour or, the brutality of camp guards, and the deaths of family and friends.
When she and her mother were sent on to Auschwitz in 1944, her uncle hid the diary in a brick wall for safekeeping.
Miraculously, he is then able to find it and return it to her.
Before the Nazi SS can murder everyone at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Russian troops arrive upon their doorstep.
Unable to complete their mission, the SS order prisoners on a massive death march, including Helga and her mother.
Years of starvation and sickness have taken a vast toll.
Helga and her mother are near dead.
She and her mother, Irena, survived but her father did not.
After the war, Helga got married musician Jiri Hosek, bring up their family and work as an artist.
Then in 1939 Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia and everything in Helga’s world suddenly changes.
Jewish children are forbidden from attending public schools.
Their parents lose jobs, bank accounts, and valuable property.
They are forced from their homes into a ghetto, where many families must live together.
Helga and her parents were imprisoned in four Nazi concentration camps:
Terezin, Auschwitz, Freiburg and Mauthausen.
A few days after her 12th birthday in 1941.
She kept a diary, in words pictures during these years.
In the diary, she describes their daily misery lives from slow starvation, sickness, forced Labour or, the brutality of camp guards, and the deaths of family and friends.
When she and her mother were sent on to Auschwitz in 1944, her uncle hid the diary in a brick wall for safekeeping.
Miraculously, he is then able to find it and return it to her.
Before the Nazi SS can murder everyone at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Russian troops arrive upon their doorstep.
Unable to complete their mission, the SS order prisoners on a massive death march, including Helga and her mother.
Years of starvation and sickness have taken a vast toll.
Helga and her mother are near dead.
She and her mother, Irena, survived but her father did not.
After the war, Helga got married musician Jiri Hosek, bring up their family and work as an artist.
February 25, 2025
Rating: 4.5/5
Helga’s Diary by Helga Weiss offers an extraordinary and moving glimpse into the Holocaust through the eyes of a young girl. Experiencing it through Helga's perspective was enlightening. Her youthful voice conveys the narrative with raw emotion and clarity, revealing the issues of life during the time. This perspective adds layers of understanding that allows readers to connect with the past on a unique more-personal level. The book is also laid out in a manner that is easy to follow, ensuring that the narrative maintains its grip on the reader from the very first page to the last.
Throughout the book, I learned many things about this period of history that I had never encountered before—details that are both significant and necessary for a deeper understanding of the era, like the communities such as Terezin which is where Helga lives for a period. This makes the book an important addition to anyone’s historical reading list.
One downside that I kept encountering was the frequent interruptions in the flow of the narrative. The inclusion of fact breakdowns and definitions for the language-specific terms, while educational, always disrupted the pacing and readability. Especially with the frequency. Though the information provided was valuable, it could have been incorporated more seamlessly into the text without hindering the overall flow of the story.
Helga’s Diary by Helga Weiss offers an extraordinary and moving glimpse into the Holocaust through the eyes of a young girl. Experiencing it through Helga's perspective was enlightening. Her youthful voice conveys the narrative with raw emotion and clarity, revealing the issues of life during the time. This perspective adds layers of understanding that allows readers to connect with the past on a unique more-personal level. The book is also laid out in a manner that is easy to follow, ensuring that the narrative maintains its grip on the reader from the very first page to the last.
Throughout the book, I learned many things about this period of history that I had never encountered before—details that are both significant and necessary for a deeper understanding of the era, like the communities such as Terezin which is where Helga lives for a period. This makes the book an important addition to anyone’s historical reading list.
One downside that I kept encountering was the frequent interruptions in the flow of the narrative. The inclusion of fact breakdowns and definitions for the language-specific terms, while educational, always disrupted the pacing and readability. Especially with the frequency. Though the information provided was valuable, it could have been incorporated more seamlessly into the text without hindering the overall flow of the story.
March 16, 2013
This was Bookdepository's book of the week last month, and because I like reading about history, especially about the Holocaust, I thought I'd give it a try. Plus, it has wonderful reviews on Amazon.
It is hard not to judge this book without comparing it to other similar themed books, especially the Diary of Anne Frank, and because both are written in the style of a diary. However, there are differences between both, with Helga Weiss being still alive to this day, while Anne Frank had perished. There is also their slight age difference as to when the diary started and ended, and that Anne was in hiding while Helga was sent to a concentration camp.
The book is harrowing, of course, and at times hopeful. But Helga remained so positive throughout the entire ordeal that the feel was less grimy and sad. The book has gone through several edits by the author herself, so that the journal reads like a daily diary when it was not originally so. I wish it had remained the way it was, although the contents would have been more innocent (because of the way it was written by a younger Helga before she knew what was actually happening, as when it was edited, she already had some knowledge about gassing and camps, so it was revised with that in mind).
There is a lack of descriptions, usually in terms of setting, some entries contained mostly just her feelings, so it was sometimes difficult to imagine what she was describing. It was only when I read the interview with Helga that I understood more.
It is hard to review this book because it is a diary of truths, not some fictional story that needs to be rated.
It is hard not to judge this book without comparing it to other similar themed books, especially the Diary of Anne Frank, and because both are written in the style of a diary. However, there are differences between both, with Helga Weiss being still alive to this day, while Anne Frank had perished. There is also their slight age difference as to when the diary started and ended, and that Anne was in hiding while Helga was sent to a concentration camp.
The book is harrowing, of course, and at times hopeful. But Helga remained so positive throughout the entire ordeal that the feel was less grimy and sad. The book has gone through several edits by the author herself, so that the journal reads like a daily diary when it was not originally so. I wish it had remained the way it was, although the contents would have been more innocent (because of the way it was written by a younger Helga before she knew what was actually happening, as when it was edited, she already had some knowledge about gassing and camps, so it was revised with that in mind).
There is a lack of descriptions, usually in terms of setting, some entries contained mostly just her feelings, so it was sometimes difficult to imagine what she was describing. It was only when I read the interview with Helga that I understood more.
It is hard to review this book because it is a diary of truths, not some fictional story that needs to be rated.
January 30, 2025
Sórdido retrato de lo inhumano que fueron los guetos, los campos de trabajo y de concentración durante la segunda guerra mundial. Este diario recopila la historia de Helga Weiss, una joven checa que sufrió el destino mas cruel de todos por el hecho de ser Judia.
Palabras que te transmiten la fuerza devastadora del frio, la inclemencia de la sed, las ganas de volver a casa, el hambre que derrumba, las ganas de quedarse dormido para no volver, como también la inminente lucha que no permite que el destino se robe el ultimo aliento. Textos ajenos que duelen, que golpean, que dejan un inconfundible desaliento.
Temas como el desarraigo, la crueldad sin limites y el sufrimiento mas profundo son contadas de manera sencilla y directa por Helga, al leerla es imposible no hilar su historia con la de Primo Levi, Ana Novac o Imre Kertesz, sobrevivientes del holocausto que documentaron el infierno en la tierra.
Aparentemente un diario juvenil, para mi, una obra inedita con ilustraciones, material fotográfico y una entrevista que cierra el contenido literario de este libro de manera magistral. Una obra de inmensa veracidad.
''Ahora seguramente me separarán de mamá. Quizá vayamos directamente al gas. «Mamá, gracias por todo y si ves a papá y yo no, dale también las gracias de mi parte. Gracias por todo». Otro beso y nos traga la puerta. «Dios, no nos abandones…». ''
Palabras que te transmiten la fuerza devastadora del frio, la inclemencia de la sed, las ganas de volver a casa, el hambre que derrumba, las ganas de quedarse dormido para no volver, como también la inminente lucha que no permite que el destino se robe el ultimo aliento. Textos ajenos que duelen, que golpean, que dejan un inconfundible desaliento.
Temas como el desarraigo, la crueldad sin limites y el sufrimiento mas profundo son contadas de manera sencilla y directa por Helga, al leerla es imposible no hilar su historia con la de Primo Levi, Ana Novac o Imre Kertesz, sobrevivientes del holocausto que documentaron el infierno en la tierra.
Aparentemente un diario juvenil, para mi, una obra inedita con ilustraciones, material fotográfico y una entrevista que cierra el contenido literario de este libro de manera magistral. Una obra de inmensa veracidad.
''Ahora seguramente me separarán de mamá. Quizá vayamos directamente al gas. «Mamá, gracias por todo y si ves a papá y yo no, dale también las gracias de mi parte. Gracias por todo». Otro beso y nos traga la puerta. «Dios, no nos abandones…». ''
April 6, 2025
”The setting sun leans into our backs and the fresh green grass ripples in a light breeze. A beetle crosses the path and a bit further along a butterfly settles on a flower. I never knew how much I loved this world. How much if it have I experienced? Fifteen years; of those, three and a half in the camp.”
Jag har läst en del dagböcker från andra världskriget, men just den här boken gjorde mig periodvis så upprörd att jag nästan behövde vända mig till närmaste person och fråga: ”hur har det här varit möjligt?”. Den är otroligt starkt skriven och, precis som alla andra vittnesmål från den här tiden, viktig att läsa - så, läs den!
Jag har läst en del dagböcker från andra världskriget, men just den här boken gjorde mig periodvis så upprörd att jag nästan behövde vända mig till närmaste person och fråga: ”hur har det här varit möjligt?”. Den är otroligt starkt skriven och, precis som alla andra vittnesmål från den här tiden, viktig att läsa - så, läs den!
March 25, 2015
Solidna knjiga. Helgn dnevnik je na neki način nastavak dnevnika Ane Frank. Još jedna u nizu knjiga koje doprinose boljem razumevanju Holokausta i zločina koji su se događali u logorima širom Evrope u periodu Drugog svetskog rata.
October 10, 2023
Every story is important.
Read to never forget.
↠ 5 stars
Read to never forget.
↠ 5 stars
October 9, 2024
Good insight to the confusion that the victims must have felt
February 20, 2017
3,5* O diário de uma jovem checa durante o período do Holocausto. O relato de uma sobrevivente a este período negro da história do séc. XX, dividido em três partes: a primeira durante a sua vida em Praga, depois o período em Terezin e por fim a sua passagem por Auschwitz.
Relato documentado com desenhos feitos pela própria durante o período de clausura e enriquecido com uma entrevista dada já adulta, no pós guerra
Relato documentado com desenhos feitos pela própria durante o período de clausura e enriquecido com uma entrevista dada já adulta, no pós guerra
February 16, 2017
Helgin dnevnik sam sinoć završila, gledajući da je početak pisan iz ugla djevojčice koja je još nezrela i ne shvata šta se dešava i koliko je okrutno to što se dešava oko nje, ona priča samo ono što njoj smeta; razdvajanje od prijatelja, poznatog okruzenja, zabrane. Ali već dolaskom u logor osjeti se promjena i svako novo poglavlje je ozbiljnije i jezivije, a puno toga je dodavala naknadno, kako je i sama spomenula na kraju knjige. Iako naravno nije jedna od najboljih koje sam pročitala ipak od mene velika preporuka.. Baš kao što kazu svaka ispičana priča o uzasima Drugog svjetskog rata je jedan zivot, a od 15.000 djece koja su bila dovedena u logor Terezin i kasnije deportovana u Aušvic preživelo je samo njih 100...
July 22, 2014
I listed this as a young adult book because the author is in her childhood when she writes her diary (and after the war as she recounts all that she wasn't able to write in the moment, she writes her recollections as if they were happening right then, because she's so easily transported back (and it's so fresh in her mind) only like 15 and a half when the war ends.) However, this is a book EVERY person should read to get a feel for what it was like for kids during the Holocaust.
Helga Weiss is such an incredible witness to these events. She not only writes but also draws pictures that while not incredibly detailed, they remind us of the vividness and immediacy of events. No matter how much we'd like to believe the Holocaust couldn't have happened, it's irrefutable.
I feel like this should be mandatory reading as a follow up to reading Anne Frank's diary. Unfortunately Anne's diary ends with them being discovered in their attic hideaway and we only imagine the story from there. Helga's diary describes life in Terezin, the ghetto often used for propaganda purposes and then as she's transported from one concentration camp to the next until liberation.
I daresay that she might be one of the singular children to live through their experiences in so many camps, including Auschwitz, Birkenau and Mauthausen.
The kindle edition has a great interview with the author at the end of the book, complete with more of Helga's hand drawn pictures and more pictures of the Holocaust in general.
It's a very moving book that you can't ignore once you start reading. Helga has a great writing style - once again it reminds me of Anne Frank. She's so optimistic and wise beyond her years. You won't walk away from this book without a better understanding of the costs of the Holocaust and what it meant for everyday Jews who were just trying to live their lives until Hitler came along and decided their lives weren't worth living.
Helga Weiss is such an incredible witness to these events. She not only writes but also draws pictures that while not incredibly detailed, they remind us of the vividness and immediacy of events. No matter how much we'd like to believe the Holocaust couldn't have happened, it's irrefutable.
I feel like this should be mandatory reading as a follow up to reading Anne Frank's diary. Unfortunately Anne's diary ends with them being discovered in their attic hideaway and we only imagine the story from there. Helga's diary describes life in Terezin, the ghetto often used for propaganda purposes and then as she's transported from one concentration camp to the next until liberation.
I daresay that she might be one of the singular children to live through their experiences in so many camps, including Auschwitz, Birkenau and Mauthausen.
The kindle edition has a great interview with the author at the end of the book, complete with more of Helga's hand drawn pictures and more pictures of the Holocaust in general.
It's a very moving book that you can't ignore once you start reading. Helga has a great writing style - once again it reminds me of Anne Frank. She's so optimistic and wise beyond her years. You won't walk away from this book without a better understanding of the costs of the Holocaust and what it meant for everyday Jews who were just trying to live their lives until Hitler came along and decided their lives weren't worth living.
March 7, 2016
"O Diário de Helga" corresponde a uma obra surgida a partir dos caderninhos que Helga Weiss utilizou para descrever os seus dias durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial e, sobretudo, o que sofreu na pele sendo judia na sequência da ocupação da Checoslováquia pelo III Reich alemão em 1939.
A obra encontra-se dividida em três partes: uma sobre a vida de Helga quando ainda vivia em Praga com o pai que trabalhava num banco e a mãe modista; uma relativa ao período em que esteve em Terezín, uma cidade também localizada na Checoslováquia; e uma em que se refere à sua passagem por Auschwitz, Freiberg e Mauthausen, onde passa o período mais negro da sua existência enquanto judia perseguida e com a ameaça sempre em mente da morte nas câmaras de gás.
Tratando-se de um relato verídico, o diário de Helga começa quando esta tem ainda cerca de 9 anos e terminará já quando esta está com cerca de 16 anos em 1945, a tão desejada e dificil paz chega finalmente e ela consegue regressar com vida à sua cidade natal, Praga. Algumas páginas estão salpicadas de desenhos (uns a preto e branco e outros a cores) que Helga fez durante o tempo em que esteve presa nestes campos, mas sobretudo em Terezín, onde apesar de tudo ainda conseguiu (graças ao pai) ter melhores condições. Helga relatou aquilo por que passou pela escrita e pelos desenhos sempre muito esclarecedores sobre a realidade que experimentava.
Enfim, um testemunho vivido cuja leitura recomendo vivamente porque continua a ser importante conhecer a História e, acima de tudo, tendo a possibilidade de o fazer a partir de uma experiência real sobre um período tão negro da História da Humanidade, que importa não esquecer para que não se repita...
Para quem tiver curiosidade em conhecer a autora, poderá assistir a uma entrevista dela aqui:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...
A obra encontra-se dividida em três partes: uma sobre a vida de Helga quando ainda vivia em Praga com o pai que trabalhava num banco e a mãe modista; uma relativa ao período em que esteve em Terezín, uma cidade também localizada na Checoslováquia; e uma em que se refere à sua passagem por Auschwitz, Freiberg e Mauthausen, onde passa o período mais negro da sua existência enquanto judia perseguida e com a ameaça sempre em mente da morte nas câmaras de gás.
Tratando-se de um relato verídico, o diário de Helga começa quando esta tem ainda cerca de 9 anos e terminará já quando esta está com cerca de 16 anos em 1945, a tão desejada e dificil paz chega finalmente e ela consegue regressar com vida à sua cidade natal, Praga. Algumas páginas estão salpicadas de desenhos (uns a preto e branco e outros a cores) que Helga fez durante o tempo em que esteve presa nestes campos, mas sobretudo em Terezín, onde apesar de tudo ainda conseguiu (graças ao pai) ter melhores condições. Helga relatou aquilo por que passou pela escrita e pelos desenhos sempre muito esclarecedores sobre a realidade que experimentava.
Enfim, um testemunho vivido cuja leitura recomendo vivamente porque continua a ser importante conhecer a História e, acima de tudo, tendo a possibilidade de o fazer a partir de uma experiência real sobre um período tão negro da História da Humanidade, que importa não esquecer para que não se repita...
Para quem tiver curiosidade em conhecer a autora, poderá assistir a uma entrevista dela aqui:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...
October 10, 2020
At New Year in what now seems like a different world, we went to Prague. It’s a stunning baroque city that’s a feast for the eyes. Early one morning I went to visit the Jewish quarter. It was a sobering experience. In one of the synagogues, the names of the eighty thousand Jews from Prague who perished in the concentration camps fill the walls and a voice reads out the names. Equally heartbreaking is the floor above where paintings by children sent to Terezin in Bohemia are displayed, children who never got to experience a normal childhood or become adults.
Terezin was converted to a Jewish ghetto and became a holding station from where those imprisoned there were then sent on to concentration camps.
Helga was only twelve when she and her family were sent to Terezin, and her account is even more effective in many ways as it is written in the language of a child who cannot understand why they are being treated like this. Things of course get even worse when they are sent to concentration camps. Helga was among only about a hundred of the Jews of Prague who survived. Her account is a reminder of something we should never forget so that hopefully it is never repeated.
Terezin was converted to a Jewish ghetto and became a holding station from where those imprisoned there were then sent on to concentration camps.
Helga was only twelve when she and her family were sent to Terezin, and her account is even more effective in many ways as it is written in the language of a child who cannot understand why they are being treated like this. Things of course get even worse when they are sent to concentration camps. Helga was among only about a hundred of the Jews of Prague who survived. Her account is a reminder of something we should never forget so that hopefully it is never repeated.
November 19, 2019
I bought this when I was in Terezin, finishing the book now makes me so emotional, knowing all those things about that place and how much pain it carried. I loved the interview at the end and how the interviewer asks some questions that I myself have wondered about Helga’s life after the war. I recommend this to everyone.
February 15, 2020
I feel absolutely terrible about saying this but personally I felt like not much happened to her. I feel terrible because I know that if I had to go through what she went through it would be horrible but maybe it's the ways it written it just seems very positive and I guess that make it seem a lot less bad.
April 11, 2013
Helga’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Account of Life in a Concentration Camp
By Helga Weiss
W.W. Norton & Co.
April 22, 2013
ISBN-10: 0393077977
ISBN-13: 978-0393077971
256 Pages
Translated by Neil Bermel
Forward by Francine Prose
Publicist: Jessica Purcell jpurcell@wwnorton.com 212-790-4267
Genre: Memoir, Young Adult, History, World War II, the Holocaust
Helga Weiss enjoys a happy, well-nurtured childhood in Prague. Loved by family and many close friends, the decade of the 1930s is closing with promise and excitement. Then, in 1939, Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia and everything in Helga’s world suddenly changes. Jewish children are forbidden from attending public schools. Their parents lose jobs, bank accounts and valuable property. They are forced from their homes into a decrepit ghetto, where many families must live together in squalor.
As 1939 melts into 1940, rumors about prison camps “in the East” become rampant. Soon word arrives that some of those camps are designed to mete out industrial death to Jews on a massive scale. Suddenly, their horrid ghetto seems like a good place to live. By this time, Helga has begun writing a diary. She feels that it might one day be important to capture the people, places and events along her journey into a living hell.
In 1941, Helga and her parents are transported to the concentration camp Theresienstadt (also called “Terezin”). Helga’s Diary provides a daily account of life in Terezin, Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps and death camps. In it, she describes their abject misery from slow starvation, rampant sickness, forced labor, the brutality of camp guards and the continual deaths of family and friends. The diary is a window upon the massive Nazi plan to rid Europe of every Jewish man, woman and child. Along with Helga, Nazi Germany deports 15,000 children to Terezin and later to Auschwitz. Only about 100 of them will survive.
Helga is fifteen when she and her parents arrive at Terezin. Her writing largely reflects the unbound innocence, resiliency and enthusiasm of a young girl. The brutality that she experiences begins to temper her future posts. Instead of attending her Prague school and working on art projects or mathematics, Helga is suddenly forced into hard labor, welding airplane parts in German factories. Religious holidays and birthdays come and go, surrounded by only cruelty, pain and suffering. Despite the horrifying conditions, we still sense Helga’s unbridled zest and enthusiasm for life, her enduring love for family, and her unbound anticipation for a rewarding future.
Helga, like almost everyone else in her barracks suffers from typhus and starvation. There is almost no medical care for the prisoners, only vicious guards, endless slave labor, disease and starvation. Helga slips into a life-threatening illness for which there is no available treatment. It seems that Nazis only value Jews who are sufficiently healthy to work in the manufacturing plants that surround concentration camps. While typhus rages within the camp, Helga falls into a limbo between death and survival.
The months and years pass by, while Helga manages to remain close to her mother, separated by buildings, but in the same horrid concentration camp. However, with men and women divided, Helga is separated from her dear father. The thought of losing him weighs heavily upon Helga’s mind. After being deported from Terezin, Helga’s father disappears, as did so many millions of other victims of Nazi brutality. To be sent to a Nazi gas chamber requires only the appearance of advanced age, infirmity, disease or rebelliousness. Even something as simple as wearing glasses becomes a ticket to the gas chamber. Only the strong survive, because they can perform the Nazis’ rigorous forced-labor.
Helga and her mother barely endure Auschwitz, despite rampant illness and the Nazis desperate need to gas and burn hundreds of thousands of Jews as rapidly as possible. By 1944, it becomes apparent that Germany is losing the war. Surrounded by the allied armed forces, it’s only a matter of time until the concentration camps are liberated. The Nazis decide to cover up their massive genocide. Jews are forced to gas and burn people as quickly as possible. In Auschwitz, the crematoria chimneys belch acrid fire and smoke high into the air, like some horrid candle pushing the ashes of Jews into infinity. Helga and her mother are soon to be dispatched similarly.
Before the Nazi SS can murder everyone at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Russian troops arrive upon their doorstep. Unable to complete their mission, the SS order prisoners on a massive death march, including Helga and her mother. Years of starvation and sickness have taken a vast toll. Helga and her mother are near death. It is uncertain whether they will die along the long march, or after they arrive at a new Nazi death camp in Germany or Austria.
Helga’s Diary is extremely well-written. Helga had little need to embellish her diary after the war because it was so accurate, evocative and informative. Fascinatingly, we see the development of her writing skills as she ages. While Helga’s initial diary posts focus upon simple facts and places, as one might expect from a fifteen year-old, her entries years later reflect the work of a woman whose writing skills have developed into excellent prose. Her detailed and eloquent description of the final death march rivals the writing of any skilled adult.
Helga’s uncle, also imprisoned at Terezin, takes possession of the diary after Helga and her parents are deported to Auschwitz. He works in the Terezin records department. Before Helga is sent to Auschwitz, she tells her uncle about the diary. He hides the diary inside of a brick wall until the war ends. Miraculously, he is then able to find it and return it to her.
If this reviewer has any disappointment with Helga’s Diary, it is the absent culture of Theresienstadt. Europe’s most well-known Jewish artists, physicians, professors, inventors, politicians and musicians are sent to Theresienstadt. Nazi leadership understands that the world might one day question where these prominent people had gone and how they are being treated. So, Nazi Germany created Theresienstadt as a “show camp.” In the end, almost all of those prominent Jews are murdered. The ruse fails. Yet, this reader had hoped to learn more about the Theresienstadt Jewish schools, orchestras, bands, concerts, lectures and all manner of the arts established by Jews within Theresienstadt to make their children less afraid. Perhaps Helga was not part of this social and educational aspect of Theresienstadt.
Nazi Germany manufactured films and documentaries inside the camp meant to show the world how well they treat their famous Jews. To this extent, a ruse was accomplished with the Red Cross, in which the healthiest young Jews are forced to pose as happy, fun-loving people, thanks to Nazi generosity. Embarrassingly, The Red Cross falls for this subterfuge, hook line and sinker.
Helga’s Diary is significantly enhanced by illustrations, drawings, maps, diagrams and pictures liberally sprinkled throughout the well-written text. Visual learners are bound to enjoy this added sensory flavor of Helga’s account. This fine book is topped off with a very interesting interview of the author at the conclusion.
After the war, Helga enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where she later became an artist. To this day, she lives in the house in Prague where she was born.
Reviewer Charles S. Weinblatt is the author of Jacob's Courage: A Holocaust Love Story (Mazo Publishers 2007).
By Helga Weiss
W.W. Norton & Co.
April 22, 2013
ISBN-10: 0393077977
ISBN-13: 978-0393077971
256 Pages
Translated by Neil Bermel
Forward by Francine Prose
Publicist: Jessica Purcell jpurcell@wwnorton.com 212-790-4267
Genre: Memoir, Young Adult, History, World War II, the Holocaust
Helga Weiss enjoys a happy, well-nurtured childhood in Prague. Loved by family and many close friends, the decade of the 1930s is closing with promise and excitement. Then, in 1939, Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia and everything in Helga’s world suddenly changes. Jewish children are forbidden from attending public schools. Their parents lose jobs, bank accounts and valuable property. They are forced from their homes into a decrepit ghetto, where many families must live together in squalor.
As 1939 melts into 1940, rumors about prison camps “in the East” become rampant. Soon word arrives that some of those camps are designed to mete out industrial death to Jews on a massive scale. Suddenly, their horrid ghetto seems like a good place to live. By this time, Helga has begun writing a diary. She feels that it might one day be important to capture the people, places and events along her journey into a living hell.
In 1941, Helga and her parents are transported to the concentration camp Theresienstadt (also called “Terezin”). Helga’s Diary provides a daily account of life in Terezin, Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps and death camps. In it, she describes their abject misery from slow starvation, rampant sickness, forced labor, the brutality of camp guards and the continual deaths of family and friends. The diary is a window upon the massive Nazi plan to rid Europe of every Jewish man, woman and child. Along with Helga, Nazi Germany deports 15,000 children to Terezin and later to Auschwitz. Only about 100 of them will survive.
Helga is fifteen when she and her parents arrive at Terezin. Her writing largely reflects the unbound innocence, resiliency and enthusiasm of a young girl. The brutality that she experiences begins to temper her future posts. Instead of attending her Prague school and working on art projects or mathematics, Helga is suddenly forced into hard labor, welding airplane parts in German factories. Religious holidays and birthdays come and go, surrounded by only cruelty, pain and suffering. Despite the horrifying conditions, we still sense Helga’s unbridled zest and enthusiasm for life, her enduring love for family, and her unbound anticipation for a rewarding future.
Helga, like almost everyone else in her barracks suffers from typhus and starvation. There is almost no medical care for the prisoners, only vicious guards, endless slave labor, disease and starvation. Helga slips into a life-threatening illness for which there is no available treatment. It seems that Nazis only value Jews who are sufficiently healthy to work in the manufacturing plants that surround concentration camps. While typhus rages within the camp, Helga falls into a limbo between death and survival.
The months and years pass by, while Helga manages to remain close to her mother, separated by buildings, but in the same horrid concentration camp. However, with men and women divided, Helga is separated from her dear father. The thought of losing him weighs heavily upon Helga’s mind. After being deported from Terezin, Helga’s father disappears, as did so many millions of other victims of Nazi brutality. To be sent to a Nazi gas chamber requires only the appearance of advanced age, infirmity, disease or rebelliousness. Even something as simple as wearing glasses becomes a ticket to the gas chamber. Only the strong survive, because they can perform the Nazis’ rigorous forced-labor.
Helga and her mother barely endure Auschwitz, despite rampant illness and the Nazis desperate need to gas and burn hundreds of thousands of Jews as rapidly as possible. By 1944, it becomes apparent that Germany is losing the war. Surrounded by the allied armed forces, it’s only a matter of time until the concentration camps are liberated. The Nazis decide to cover up their massive genocide. Jews are forced to gas and burn people as quickly as possible. In Auschwitz, the crematoria chimneys belch acrid fire and smoke high into the air, like some horrid candle pushing the ashes of Jews into infinity. Helga and her mother are soon to be dispatched similarly.
Before the Nazi SS can murder everyone at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Russian troops arrive upon their doorstep. Unable to complete their mission, the SS order prisoners on a massive death march, including Helga and her mother. Years of starvation and sickness have taken a vast toll. Helga and her mother are near death. It is uncertain whether they will die along the long march, or after they arrive at a new Nazi death camp in Germany or Austria.
Helga’s Diary is extremely well-written. Helga had little need to embellish her diary after the war because it was so accurate, evocative and informative. Fascinatingly, we see the development of her writing skills as she ages. While Helga’s initial diary posts focus upon simple facts and places, as one might expect from a fifteen year-old, her entries years later reflect the work of a woman whose writing skills have developed into excellent prose. Her detailed and eloquent description of the final death march rivals the writing of any skilled adult.
Helga’s uncle, also imprisoned at Terezin, takes possession of the diary after Helga and her parents are deported to Auschwitz. He works in the Terezin records department. Before Helga is sent to Auschwitz, she tells her uncle about the diary. He hides the diary inside of a brick wall until the war ends. Miraculously, he is then able to find it and return it to her.
If this reviewer has any disappointment with Helga’s Diary, it is the absent culture of Theresienstadt. Europe’s most well-known Jewish artists, physicians, professors, inventors, politicians and musicians are sent to Theresienstadt. Nazi leadership understands that the world might one day question where these prominent people had gone and how they are being treated. So, Nazi Germany created Theresienstadt as a “show camp.” In the end, almost all of those prominent Jews are murdered. The ruse fails. Yet, this reader had hoped to learn more about the Theresienstadt Jewish schools, orchestras, bands, concerts, lectures and all manner of the arts established by Jews within Theresienstadt to make their children less afraid. Perhaps Helga was not part of this social and educational aspect of Theresienstadt.
Nazi Germany manufactured films and documentaries inside the camp meant to show the world how well they treat their famous Jews. To this extent, a ruse was accomplished with the Red Cross, in which the healthiest young Jews are forced to pose as happy, fun-loving people, thanks to Nazi generosity. Embarrassingly, The Red Cross falls for this subterfuge, hook line and sinker.
Helga’s Diary is significantly enhanced by illustrations, drawings, maps, diagrams and pictures liberally sprinkled throughout the well-written text. Visual learners are bound to enjoy this added sensory flavor of Helga’s account. This fine book is topped off with a very interesting interview of the author at the conclusion.
After the war, Helga enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where she later became an artist. To this day, she lives in the house in Prague where she was born.
Reviewer Charles S. Weinblatt is the author of Jacob's Courage: A Holocaust Love Story (Mazo Publishers 2007).
May 22, 2013
[Review in Portuguese]
O Diário de Helga, de Helga Weiss
Intrínseca - 221 páginas
Um relato real e pungente sobre um dos períodos mais tristes da história contemporânea.
Título: O Diário de Helga
Título Original: Helga's Diary
Autora: Helga Weiss
Organizador: Neil Bermel
Tradutor: George Schlesinger
Editora: Intrínseca
ISBN: 978-85-8057-305-3
Ano da Edição: 2013
Ano Original de Lançamento: 2012
Nº de Páginas: 221
Comprar Online:
Inglês: Amazon / Book Depository
Português: Amazon / Cultura / Saraiva / Submarino
Sinopse:
Helga era ainda apenas uma criança quando foi levada para Terezín, um campo de concentração na Tchecoslováquia. Aos oito anos havia começado a escrever um diário, que ainda mantinha aos onze quando teve que deixar Praga com o pai e a mãe. É este diário, no qual ela continuou escrevendo nos anos em que passou em Terezìn antes de ser enviada a Auschwitz, que o leitor tem a oportunidade de ler agora, graças a um tio da menina que conseguiu escondê-lo até o fim da guerra.
O que eu achei do livro:
Ótimo!
Para começar, não parece certo dizer que é ótimo um relato verdadeiro do holocausto. Simplesmente porque nenhuma palavra boa parece estar no lugar certo quando esta conectada a este assunto.
O que quero dizer é que a leitura d'O Diário de Helga é bastante esclarecedora e tremendamente perturbadora, não consegui largar o livro enquanto não cheguei ao final e mal pude dormir à noite pensando nos horrores narrados pela criança.
O Diário de Helga publicado pela Intrínseca é uma tradução da versão inglesa de Neil Bermel, que organizou os relatos de Helga, traduziu-os para o inglês, juntou a alguns desenhos da menina feitos também na época em que foi prisioneira e publicou, junto a uma entrevista com Helga* em um livro inédito. Alguns fragmentos do diário da garota foram publicados através dos tempos, mas não na íntegra como aconteceu nessa versão.
Segundo palavras da própria autora durante a entrevista concedida, esse assunto ainda é um grande tabu. Por muito tempo, ninguém quis nem ao menos falar sobre o que aconteceu naqueles anos de guerra e seu diário foi pouco requisitado, embora as pessoas soubessem de sua existência. Ela também afirma que hoje em dia muito se fala sobre o assunto, mas ainda não é da forma que seria ideal - há muita coisa que não é exatamente real, fala-se muito de coisas que não poderiam ter sido daquela forma e escondem-se outros detalhes.
A narrativa é bastante envolvente, como se fosse mesmo um diário. Ora a menina fala no passado (como se estivesse contando eventos dos quais se lembra) e ora no presente (como se os tivesse vivenciando exatamente no momento em que escreve as linhas do diário), mas sempre com muito sentimento, muita verdade, muita inocência.
Uma das coisas mais tristes de ler o relato de Helga, é ver como uma criança teve que se tornar adulta antes do tempo, vivenciar algo pelo que ninguém jamais deveria passar, sobreviver em condições insustentáveis. É impressionante ver a força de vontade daquelas pessoas, como o ser humano é forte e como a luta pela vida é maior do que todo os sofrimento pelos quais passaram.
As mazelas sofridas pela criança, pelos seus amigos e familiares doem no leitor. Não é possível ler esse livro sem se envolver. É impossível largar O Dário de Helga, então tome cuidado. Mesmo que você consiga interromper a leitura (em alguns momentos, o relato é tão forte que isso se torna inevitável), não conseguirá parar de pensar em tudo o que leu.
Não entenda mal, o diário da menina é mesmo uma narrativa de uma criança, não tem descrições tão pesadas, mas está tudo nas entrelinhas. Quanto mais você souber sobre o assunto, mais sofrerá com esta leitura.
E, se quer mesmo saber, o que mais doeu não foi ler sobre as dificuldades, não foi ler sobre as torturas, a fome, as condições precárias. O que mais fere é ler sobre os fatos do cotidiano - a menina falando sobre os maravilhosos presentes de aniversário, por exemplo; ou sobre o que conseguiu juntar para presentear a mãe no Dia das Mães; ou ainda o quanto ela e as amigas se esforçaram para juntar gramas de açúcar para fazer um doce; ou o seu namoro com um cara no campo de concentração.
Os eventos cotidianos com sua simplicidade são o que mais maravilham, no bom e mau sentido. Não é possível tirar da cabeça tudo o que li. Helga agora faz parte da minha vida!
Como já mencionado, a escrita da autora é deliciosa!
O texto não é o original escrito pela Helga menina... foi mexido pela adolescente que sobreviveu à guerra (quando voltou para Praga em 1945 e contou a parte final de seu relato contida nesse diário, já que não teve acesso ao diário enquanto esteve em Auschwitz e nos campos depois dele) e também pela adulta que datilografou as páginas manuscritas anos depois. Nem por isso, entretanto, algo se perdeu. Está tudo ali e o leitor sente que tem acesso ao relato daquela criança que teve que amadurecer em tão pouco tempo.
Além das palavras, Helga também utilizou imagens para contar o que via. E são ilustrações belíssimas! Não foi à toa que a menina se tornou uma grande artista na vida adulta, mesmo com a precariedade de sua situação no campo de concentração, alguns desenhos maravilhosos de Helga sobreviveram e estão reunidos nessa edição.
Além dos desenhos a lápis (em tons de cinza), a edição ainda traz em lâminas dezesseis pinturas a cores da época em que a menina foi prisioneira (todos os desenhos de Helga têm título, estão datados e possuem uma pequena legenda que explica o momento que retratam). A edição ainda presenteia o leitor com um mapa da região dos campos de concentração e um mapa do campo de Terezín, além de mais um grupo de lâminas contendo cinco fotos de Helga com sua família, dez fotos da época da guerra e duas lâminas com imagens de documentos de Helga e sua família daquela época (infelizmente, devido ao tamanho reduzido, não é possível ler tudo).
Deixo aqui avisado que o livro é pesado e que quem o ler não será capaz de tirá-lo da cabeça. Ao menos tempo, afirmo que essa é uma leitura imperdível, que dará uma visão diferente e realista de como foi a vida durante essa época tão dura.
Das quinze mil crianças que estiveram em Terezín, o primeiro campo de concentração para o qual Helga foi levada e onde passou mais de dois anos, calcula-se que apenas cem sobreviveram até o fim da guerra. Ler O Diário de Helga é um privilégio, uma tortura e uma obrigação! É necessário que saibamos e conheçamos a triste realidade dessa guerra que mostrou que o ser humano pode ser mais do que um monstro.
* Helga ainda está viva, mora em Praga, na atual República Tcheca, no apartamento onde passou sua infância antes da guerra. Casou-se, tem dois filhos, três netos e se tornou uma artista de grande sucesso. Com todas as palavras, entretanto, afirma que a guerra nunca a deixou e que sempre revive aquele tempo, sofre com aquelas dores. Compreensível, triste, doloroso.
P.S.: O livro chegou aqui em casa ontem e eu não pretendia começar a leitura agora. Mas quando fui folhear, já me senti envolvida pelas imagens e quando comecei a leitura, não pude parar. Não consegui dormir enquanto não terminei de ler o relato, tampouco consegui dormir depois por não poder parar de pensar em tudo o que havia lido.
Nota: 10
Leia mais resenhas no blog Nanie's World: www.naniesworld.com
O Diário de Helga, de Helga Weiss
Intrínseca - 221 páginas
Um relato real e pungente sobre um dos períodos mais tristes da história contemporânea.
Título: O Diário de Helga
Título Original: Helga's Diary
Autora: Helga Weiss
Organizador: Neil Bermel
Tradutor: George Schlesinger
Editora: Intrínseca
ISBN: 978-85-8057-305-3
Ano da Edição: 2013
Ano Original de Lançamento: 2012
Nº de Páginas: 221
Comprar Online:
Inglês: Amazon / Book Depository
Português: Amazon / Cultura / Saraiva / Submarino
Sinopse:
Helga era ainda apenas uma criança quando foi levada para Terezín, um campo de concentração na Tchecoslováquia. Aos oito anos havia começado a escrever um diário, que ainda mantinha aos onze quando teve que deixar Praga com o pai e a mãe. É este diário, no qual ela continuou escrevendo nos anos em que passou em Terezìn antes de ser enviada a Auschwitz, que o leitor tem a oportunidade de ler agora, graças a um tio da menina que conseguiu escondê-lo até o fim da guerra.
O que eu achei do livro:
Ótimo!
Para começar, não parece certo dizer que é ótimo um relato verdadeiro do holocausto. Simplesmente porque nenhuma palavra boa parece estar no lugar certo quando esta conectada a este assunto.
O que quero dizer é que a leitura d'O Diário de Helga é bastante esclarecedora e tremendamente perturbadora, não consegui largar o livro enquanto não cheguei ao final e mal pude dormir à noite pensando nos horrores narrados pela criança.
O Diário de Helga publicado pela Intrínseca é uma tradução da versão inglesa de Neil Bermel, que organizou os relatos de Helga, traduziu-os para o inglês, juntou a alguns desenhos da menina feitos também na época em que foi prisioneira e publicou, junto a uma entrevista com Helga* em um livro inédito. Alguns fragmentos do diário da garota foram publicados através dos tempos, mas não na íntegra como aconteceu nessa versão.
Segundo palavras da própria autora durante a entrevista concedida, esse assunto ainda é um grande tabu. Por muito tempo, ninguém quis nem ao menos falar sobre o que aconteceu naqueles anos de guerra e seu diário foi pouco requisitado, embora as pessoas soubessem de sua existência. Ela também afirma que hoje em dia muito se fala sobre o assunto, mas ainda não é da forma que seria ideal - há muita coisa que não é exatamente real, fala-se muito de coisas que não poderiam ter sido daquela forma e escondem-se outros detalhes.
A narrativa é bastante envolvente, como se fosse mesmo um diário. Ora a menina fala no passado (como se estivesse contando eventos dos quais se lembra) e ora no presente (como se os tivesse vivenciando exatamente no momento em que escreve as linhas do diário), mas sempre com muito sentimento, muita verdade, muita inocência.
Uma das coisas mais tristes de ler o relato de Helga, é ver como uma criança teve que se tornar adulta antes do tempo, vivenciar algo pelo que ninguém jamais deveria passar, sobreviver em condições insustentáveis. É impressionante ver a força de vontade daquelas pessoas, como o ser humano é forte e como a luta pela vida é maior do que todo os sofrimento pelos quais passaram.
As mazelas sofridas pela criança, pelos seus amigos e familiares doem no leitor. Não é possível ler esse livro sem se envolver. É impossível largar O Dário de Helga, então tome cuidado. Mesmo que você consiga interromper a leitura (em alguns momentos, o relato é tão forte que isso se torna inevitável), não conseguirá parar de pensar em tudo o que leu.
Não entenda mal, o diário da menina é mesmo uma narrativa de uma criança, não tem descrições tão pesadas, mas está tudo nas entrelinhas. Quanto mais você souber sobre o assunto, mais sofrerá com esta leitura.
E, se quer mesmo saber, o que mais doeu não foi ler sobre as dificuldades, não foi ler sobre as torturas, a fome, as condições precárias. O que mais fere é ler sobre os fatos do cotidiano - a menina falando sobre os maravilhosos presentes de aniversário, por exemplo; ou sobre o que conseguiu juntar para presentear a mãe no Dia das Mães; ou ainda o quanto ela e as amigas se esforçaram para juntar gramas de açúcar para fazer um doce; ou o seu namoro com um cara no campo de concentração.
Os eventos cotidianos com sua simplicidade são o que mais maravilham, no bom e mau sentido. Não é possível tirar da cabeça tudo o que li. Helga agora faz parte da minha vida!
Como já mencionado, a escrita da autora é deliciosa!
O texto não é o original escrito pela Helga menina... foi mexido pela adolescente que sobreviveu à guerra (quando voltou para Praga em 1945 e contou a parte final de seu relato contida nesse diário, já que não teve acesso ao diário enquanto esteve em Auschwitz e nos campos depois dele) e também pela adulta que datilografou as páginas manuscritas anos depois. Nem por isso, entretanto, algo se perdeu. Está tudo ali e o leitor sente que tem acesso ao relato daquela criança que teve que amadurecer em tão pouco tempo.
Além das palavras, Helga também utilizou imagens para contar o que via. E são ilustrações belíssimas! Não foi à toa que a menina se tornou uma grande artista na vida adulta, mesmo com a precariedade de sua situação no campo de concentração, alguns desenhos maravilhosos de Helga sobreviveram e estão reunidos nessa edição.
Além dos desenhos a lápis (em tons de cinza), a edição ainda traz em lâminas dezesseis pinturas a cores da época em que a menina foi prisioneira (todos os desenhos de Helga têm título, estão datados e possuem uma pequena legenda que explica o momento que retratam). A edição ainda presenteia o leitor com um mapa da região dos campos de concentração e um mapa do campo de Terezín, além de mais um grupo de lâminas contendo cinco fotos de Helga com sua família, dez fotos da época da guerra e duas lâminas com imagens de documentos de Helga e sua família daquela época (infelizmente, devido ao tamanho reduzido, não é possível ler tudo).
Deixo aqui avisado que o livro é pesado e que quem o ler não será capaz de tirá-lo da cabeça. Ao menos tempo, afirmo que essa é uma leitura imperdível, que dará uma visão diferente e realista de como foi a vida durante essa época tão dura.
Das quinze mil crianças que estiveram em Terezín, o primeiro campo de concentração para o qual Helga foi levada e onde passou mais de dois anos, calcula-se que apenas cem sobreviveram até o fim da guerra. Ler O Diário de Helga é um privilégio, uma tortura e uma obrigação! É necessário que saibamos e conheçamos a triste realidade dessa guerra que mostrou que o ser humano pode ser mais do que um monstro.
* Helga ainda está viva, mora em Praga, na atual República Tcheca, no apartamento onde passou sua infância antes da guerra. Casou-se, tem dois filhos, três netos e se tornou uma artista de grande sucesso. Com todas as palavras, entretanto, afirma que a guerra nunca a deixou e que sempre revive aquele tempo, sofre com aquelas dores. Compreensível, triste, doloroso.
P.S.: O livro chegou aqui em casa ontem e eu não pretendia começar a leitura agora. Mas quando fui folhear, já me senti envolvida pelas imagens e quando comecei a leitura, não pude parar. Não consegui dormir enquanto não terminei de ler o relato, tampouco consegui dormir depois por não poder parar de pensar em tudo o que havia lido.
Nota: 10
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December 12, 2024
5,0
Fue horrible, cada segundo fue horrible.
Dios mío, que libro tan desgarrador enserio.
Por donde empezar? Es un libro de las vivencias de una sobreviviente al Holocausto y realmente todo lo que se relata en este libro es horrible, todo lo que tuvo que vivir es simplemente desgarrador.
Al leerlo tenía un miedo muy feo por todo lo que estaba pasando, como los trataban, las condiciones en las que estaban, todo. Llore solo 1 vez pero enserio conecte demasiado con las vivencias.
Habían veces que me perdía, no se eran tantas cosas al tiempo que mi cerebro se terminaba yendo de tanta información, por esto la narración no fue mi favorita, pero no me siento en el derecho de juzgar la pluma de helga.
Este libro es demasiado fuerte y expresa tantas cosas, que no entiendo por qué no es tan reconocido, se exponen tantas cosas que no entiendo por qué no es famoso, en mi opinión retrata a la perfección el sufrimiento que se estaba viviendo tanto en los campos de concentración, las ciudades y las fábricas.
Realmente aprendí mucho de este libro, no es mi primera vez leyendo cosas referentes a la segunda Guerra Mundial, pero definitivamente es el libro en el que más me dieron contexto político y Social
Fue horrible, cada segundo fue horrible.
Dios mío, que libro tan desgarrador enserio.
Por donde empezar? Es un libro de las vivencias de una sobreviviente al Holocausto y realmente todo lo que se relata en este libro es horrible, todo lo que tuvo que vivir es simplemente desgarrador.
Al leerlo tenía un miedo muy feo por todo lo que estaba pasando, como los trataban, las condiciones en las que estaban, todo. Llore solo 1 vez pero enserio conecte demasiado con las vivencias.
Habían veces que me perdía, no se eran tantas cosas al tiempo que mi cerebro se terminaba yendo de tanta información, por esto la narración no fue mi favorita, pero no me siento en el derecho de juzgar la pluma de helga.
Este libro es demasiado fuerte y expresa tantas cosas, que no entiendo por qué no es tan reconocido, se exponen tantas cosas que no entiendo por qué no es famoso, en mi opinión retrata a la perfección el sufrimiento que se estaba viviendo tanto en los campos de concentración, las ciudades y las fábricas.
Realmente aprendí mucho de este libro, no es mi primera vez leyendo cosas referentes a la segunda Guerra Mundial, pero definitivamente es el libro en el que más me dieron contexto político y Social
November 21, 2024
As a lover of The Diary of Anne Frank, I immediately came to love Helga Weiss's diary. In 1939, Helga was a young Jewish schoolgirl in Prague. She documents the initial wave of the Nazi invasion in her diary. She and her mother were both interned at Terazin. Of the 15,000 children brought to Terazin, only one hundred survived--Helga was one of them.
She and her mother went on to also survive the camps of Auschwitz, Freiburg, and Mauthausen. She and her mother walked many miles to get back to Prague, trying to return to normal life. They were met with monumental challenges--where to live...what to do to stay alive--not much different from when they were interned in concentration camps.
Critics say of the diary, "A lucid and valuable piece of testimony...Takes a proud place in the library of eyewitness testimonies to the Holocaust." (Adam Kirsch, New Republic)
Helga was an artist--many of her drawings became part of the diary. After the war, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. She taught art to many people and lived out her life in her hometown.
She and her mother went on to also survive the camps of Auschwitz, Freiburg, and Mauthausen. She and her mother walked many miles to get back to Prague, trying to return to normal life. They were met with monumental challenges--where to live...what to do to stay alive--not much different from when they were interned in concentration camps.
Critics say of the diary, "A lucid and valuable piece of testimony...Takes a proud place in the library of eyewitness testimonies to the Holocaust." (Adam Kirsch, New Republic)
Helga was an artist--many of her drawings became part of the diary. After the war, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. She taught art to many people and lived out her life in her hometown.
December 12, 2019
Apesar de ter estudado desde o Ensino Médio sobre a Segunda Guerra Mundial, não me imaginava diretamente imergido nessa história. E neste ano, tive a oportunidade de conhecer Terezín, a cidade em que Helga relata parte de sua trajetória no holocausto.
A forma como ela relata, entre memórias de uma criança/adolescente, entre a esperança e a ausência de futuro é algo que ajudou ainda mais a mim a despertar o senso de que precisamos revisitar e estudar continuamente as motivações que levaram a essa tragédia histórica, como política de Estado.
Helga me emocionou com sua descrição visceral, real e humana. Acredito ser uma boa leitura para reflexão e ação em tempos de recrudescimento dos discursos de ódio e da intolerância.
A forma como ela relata, entre memórias de uma criança/adolescente, entre a esperança e a ausência de futuro é algo que ajudou ainda mais a mim a despertar o senso de que precisamos revisitar e estudar continuamente as motivações que levaram a essa tragédia histórica, como política de Estado.
Helga me emocionou com sua descrição visceral, real e humana. Acredito ser uma boa leitura para reflexão e ação em tempos de recrudescimento dos discursos de ódio e da intolerância.
December 26, 2019
I expected another book in the vein of The Diary of Anne Frank. It was not. This is a journal rather than a diary. Where as many of the books I have read have been about the treatment of the Jewish people from Poland, Germany etc and the concentration camps this books looks at the lives of people in Czeckoslovakia (as was), firstly in the internment camp at Terezin then Auschwitz and Mathausen. It is an interesting read. Where Anne’s diary ends with the family being sent to the camps, Helga’s diary continues with life in the camps, the conditions, the treatment of people living during the war and after. A merging of past writing and vivid memory that made it more intense.
December 27, 2020
An intense, inspiring, and educative read! Very emotional as well.
I did prefer the way the 3rd part was written over the way the first two parts were written; the 3rd part did feel more mature.
Overall, I thought it was a good book.
I also thought the interview with Helga at the end was a nice touch and added a bit more perspective to everything.
I did prefer the way the 3rd part was written over the way the first two parts were written; the 3rd part did feel more mature.
Overall, I thought it was a good book.
I also thought the interview with Helga at the end was a nice touch and added a bit more perspective to everything.
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