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Diary of Bergen-Belsen: 1944-1945
A unique, deeply political survivor’s diary from the final year inside the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Hanna Levy-Hass, a Yugoslavian Jew, emerged a defiant survivor of the Holocaust. Her observations shed new light on the lived experience of Nazi internment. Levy-Hass stands alone as the only resistance fighter to report on her own experience inside the camps, and she does so with unflinching clarity in dealing with the political and social divisions inside Bergen-Belsen.
Amira Hass, the only Israeli journalist living in and writing from within the Occupied Territories, offers a substantial introduction to her mother’s work.
Praise for Hanna Levy-Hass and Diary of Bergen-Belsen
“A compelling document of historic importance which shows, with remarkable composure, that ethical thought about what it means to be human can be sustained in the most inhuman conditions. Hanna Levy-Hass teaches us how a politics of compassion and justice can rise out of the camps as the strongest answer to the horrors of the twentieth century.”—Jacqueline Rose, historian, Queen Mary University of London; author, The Question of Zion
“Diary of Bergen-Belsen is a poignant testimonial whose direct and clear-eyed observations on life in Hell belong in the select company of Primo Levi and Margarete Buber-Neumann, whose recently translated Under Two Dictators is the only comparable account in English of the female experience at Bergen-Belsen. Hannah Levy-Hass was clearly a quite extraordinary woman — brave, honest, and undiminished in her idealism and hopes: qualities that also characterize her daughter Amira, a fearless Israeli journalist who introduces the Diary with a moving account of her mother’s life and death.”—Tony Judt, historian; University Professor and Director of The Remarque Institute, New York University; author, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
“Diary of Bergen-Belsen vividly captures the tempestuous spirits of one of the darkest places on earth during one of the darkest times in history. Hanna Levy-Hass writes with captivation of unthinkable brutality. Her careful writings have created an unforgettable and indispensable chronicle that will live on for generations. She will help us remember, and to never forget.”—Edwin Black, author, IBM and the Holocaust
“No other diary carries quite the same lessons of moral courage and political urgency as Levy-Hass’s does, with her repeated attempts to salvage some form of solidarity out of the abyss of depravity and selfish individualism that engulfed Belsen’s inmates. This new edition includes a powerful foreword and afterword by Levy-Hass’s daughter, Amira, who, without sentimentality or false analogy, links the struggles of her own present with those of her mother’s past.”—Jane Caplan, Professor of Modern European History, Oxford University
The history of the Holocaust is often reduced to a simple conflict between the persecutors and their victims, but it was a much more complex process. It was also the history of the struggle against the barbarism of Twentieth century: and that is the reason why this diary is so important to us.”—Enzo Traverso, historian, University of Picardie, France; author, The Origins of Nazi Violence
Born in Sarajevo, Hanna Levy-Hass was an activist in the resistance to the German occupation of Yugoslavia. She was taken by the Nazis from Montenegro to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944. Her diary has been published in many languages.
Amira Hass, the daughter of Hanna Levy-Hass, is an Israeli journalist who is best known for her columns in Ha’aretz. She is the author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza and has received many awards for her writing.
Hanna Levy-Hass, a Yugoslavian Jew, emerged a defiant survivor of the Holocaust. Her observations shed new light on the lived experience of Nazi internment. Levy-Hass stands alone as the only resistance fighter to report on her own experience inside the camps, and she does so with unflinching clarity in dealing with the political and social divisions inside Bergen-Belsen.
Amira Hass, the only Israeli journalist living in and writing from within the Occupied Territories, offers a substantial introduction to her mother’s work.
Praise for Hanna Levy-Hass and Diary of Bergen-Belsen
“A compelling document of historic importance which shows, with remarkable composure, that ethical thought about what it means to be human can be sustained in the most inhuman conditions. Hanna Levy-Hass teaches us how a politics of compassion and justice can rise out of the camps as the strongest answer to the horrors of the twentieth century.”—Jacqueline Rose, historian, Queen Mary University of London; author, The Question of Zion
“Diary of Bergen-Belsen is a poignant testimonial whose direct and clear-eyed observations on life in Hell belong in the select company of Primo Levi and Margarete Buber-Neumann, whose recently translated Under Two Dictators is the only comparable account in English of the female experience at Bergen-Belsen. Hannah Levy-Hass was clearly a quite extraordinary woman — brave, honest, and undiminished in her idealism and hopes: qualities that also characterize her daughter Amira, a fearless Israeli journalist who introduces the Diary with a moving account of her mother’s life and death.”—Tony Judt, historian; University Professor and Director of The Remarque Institute, New York University; author, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
“Diary of Bergen-Belsen vividly captures the tempestuous spirits of one of the darkest places on earth during one of the darkest times in history. Hanna Levy-Hass writes with captivation of unthinkable brutality. Her careful writings have created an unforgettable and indispensable chronicle that will live on for generations. She will help us remember, and to never forget.”—Edwin Black, author, IBM and the Holocaust
“No other diary carries quite the same lessons of moral courage and political urgency as Levy-Hass’s does, with her repeated attempts to salvage some form of solidarity out of the abyss of depravity and selfish individualism that engulfed Belsen’s inmates. This new edition includes a powerful foreword and afterword by Levy-Hass’s daughter, Amira, who, without sentimentality or false analogy, links the struggles of her own present with those of her mother’s past.”—Jane Caplan, Professor of Modern European History, Oxford University
The history of the Holocaust is often reduced to a simple conflict between the persecutors and their victims, but it was a much more complex process. It was also the history of the struggle against the barbarism of Twentieth century: and that is the reason why this diary is so important to us.”—Enzo Traverso, historian, University of Picardie, France; author, The Origins of Nazi Violence
Born in Sarajevo, Hanna Levy-Hass was an activist in the resistance to the German occupation of Yugoslavia. She was taken by the Nazis from Montenegro to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944. Her diary has been published in many languages.
Amira Hass, the daughter of Hanna Levy-Hass, is an Israeli journalist who is best known for her columns in Ha’aretz. She is the author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza and has received many awards for her writing.
220 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 2, 2011
I'm sorry this diary was ignored by the public for so long, for it's one of the very few diaries to come out of a concentration camp. Its author was a very educated, intelligent woman who spoke several languages and certainly knew how to write. I'm amazed that, starving and sick in Bergen-Belsen with people dying all around her, Hanna Levy-Hass was able to teach the children, write these amazingly detailed diary entries, and even have philosophical conversations with others about the nature of ethics in a concentration camp.
At one point she writes, "Our existence has something cruel, beastly about it. Everything human is reduced to zero [...] We have not died, but we are dead."
The reader should be aware that the introduction and afterword take up 70 pages of this slim book. Hanna Levy-Hass's daughter is a journalist in Israel and a Palestinian rights activist, and she writes about her mother's pre-war background and post-war wanderings, as well as her own experiences as a child of two Holocaust survivors. The introduction provides helpful biographical information, but the afterword, though beautifully written, can be skipped over entirely.
At one point she writes, "Our existence has something cruel, beastly about it. Everything human is reduced to zero [...] We have not died, but we are dead."
The reader should be aware that the introduction and afterword take up 70 pages of this slim book. Hanna Levy-Hass's daughter is a journalist in Israel and a Palestinian rights activist, and she writes about her mother's pre-war background and post-war wanderings, as well as her own experiences as a child of two Holocaust survivors. The introduction provides helpful biographical information, but the afterword, though beautifully written, can be skipped over entirely.
December 24, 2025
Na neki krajnje neobičan način, usuđujem se reći da je "lijepo" kada ti omiljeni žanr u ruke položi tuđi život u njegovom najkrhkijem obliku - u formi ličnog dnevnika. U ovom slučaju, to "lijepo" je, naravno, duboko paradoksalno, jer je riječ o mojoj sugrađanki Hani Levi - Sarajki koja je svijet posmatrala iz istih ulica kojima se i sama danas krećem, a koja je, sticajem tragičnih okolnosti, završila u logoru Bergen-Belsen u nacističkoj Njemačkoj tokom 1944. i 1945. godine.
Naizgled sporedna činjenica, da je Hana Levi bila Sarajka i sefardska Jevrejka, kao i da je bila dijete ovog grada jednako kao što sam i sama, u meni otvara čitav niz emocionalnih pukotina. Čitajući njene zapise, imam gotovo nelagodan osjećaj bliskosti, osjećaj da sam je lično poznavala. Potpuno je nevjerovatno, pa i potresno, pomisliti da hodamo istim ulicama - ona u vremenu koje više ne postoji, a ja u ovdašnjem. Pitam se koliko puta su nam se putevi simbolično ukrstili: prema sarajevskoj tržnici, pošti, Vijećnici, Ferhadiji ili Titovoj ulici.
Zapanjujuće je koliko se bliskost može roditi iz oskudice detalja, jer Hana u svom dnevniku ne piše mnogo o sebi. Nema dugih introspekcija, nema potrebe da se dopadne čitaocu, nema literarnog ukrašavanja. Ipak, srce mi se lako priljubilo uz njen lik, upravo zbog te suzdržanosti; zato što znam odakle dolazi i zato što je njena sudbina utkana u kolektivnu historiju grada kojem i sama pripadam. Njen glas postaje produžetak nečega što smo izgubili, ali nikada do kraja oplakali.
Za one mekog i osjetljivog srca, kao i za čitaoce koji traže romantizaciju, razrađenu radnju ili emotivnu utjehu, ovaj dnevnik vjerovatno neće biti lako štivo, niti je pisan s tom namjerom, jer dnevnik "Iz Belzena 1944-1945" nije štivo koje ugađa. Zapisi su povremeni, fragmentirati i oštri, ogoljeni do kosti. Asketski u svojoj formi, oni su kratki i škrti, ali izrazito živi, brutalno direktni i bolno lucidni. U toj šturosti leži i njihova snaga, jer Hana Levi piše onako kako se živi u logoru, bez viška riječi i prostora za iluziju, sa stalnom sviješću gladi, bolesti, straha i neizvjesnosti, s tijelom koje pamti više nego što riječi mogu iznijeti, jer je postojala samo neumoljiva svakodnevica opstanka, bez luksuza patetike. Ta šturost nije manjak, već etički izbor: ona ne dramatizira jer stvarnost to ne dopušta. Svaka rečenica djeluje kao rez, a upravo ta suzdržanost čini svjedočanstvo još snažnijim, još istinitijim i još teže zaboravljivim.
Upravo u toj šutnji između rečenica, u onome što nije izgovoreno, dnevnik zadobija svoju najveću snagu. Čitalac je prisiljen da zastane, da udahne i da sam dopuni praznine. A meni, kao Sarajki, te praznine odzvanjaju jače nego što bih željela, jer znam da su to praznine u našem gradskom, kolektivnom pamćenju - slojevi sjećanja preko kojih hodamo svakodnevno, često nesvjesno. Znam da su to imena koja su nestala, glasovi koji su utihnuli, životi koji su prekinuti, a koji su mogli nastaviti hodati ovim istim ulicama. Čitati Hanu Levi znači čitati Sarajevo iz perspektive onoga što je nasilno istrgnuto iz njega. To nije lako čitanje, ali je nužno. I duboko, nepovratno lično.
Hana ne piše o strahu kao o apstraktnom osjećaju; on je ugrađen u svaki red i u svaku pauzu između rečenica. Kao žena, ona ne nudi herojski narativ, niti traži sažaljenje. Njena snaga nije u prkosu, nego u postojanju. U činjenici da zapisuje. Da pamti. Da bilježi čak i onda kada je tijelo na ivici izdržljivosti. U tom smislu, njen dnevnik je čin tihe pobune protiv brisanja, protiv anonimnosti, protiv zaborava.
Posebno bolan sloj Hanine priče otkriva se tek nakon rata, u trenutku kada se vraća u Beograd - grad u kojem je dugo boravila i kojem se, barem privremeno, nadala kao prostoru razumijevanja. Umjesto toga, nailazi na zid ravnodušnosti, pa i otvorenog osporavanja. Njena potreba da objavi svoj dnevnik, da strahote logora pretoči u riječi, dočekana je s hladnom frazom kolektivnog poravnanja: "to više nikoga ne zanima, svi smo patili, vrijeme je da se krene dalje". U tim rečenicama briše se razlika između gladi i izgladnjivanja, između straha i sistematskog uništavanja, između života u okupaciji i života u logoru.
Hani se, zapravo, ne osporava samo pravo na objavu i istinu, nego i pravo na specifičnost njenog iskustva. Njena patnja biva relativizirana, svedena na opštu kategoriju "ratnog stradanja", čime se gubi ono što je suštinsko: činjenica da niko ko nije prošao logor ne može u potpunosti razumjeti njegovu realnost. Ona narodna, gorka istina: "sit gladnom ne vjeruje", ovdje dobija svoju najokrutniju potvrdu. Oni koji su preživjeli na rubu egzistencije, ali izvan žica, osjećali su se pozvanima da presuđuju onima koji su živjeli unutar njih.
Ta tišina koja joj je nametnuta nakon oslobođenja možda je jednako porazna kao i sama trauma logora. Logor joj je oduzeo tijelo, zdravlje i godine, ali postratno društvo pokušalo joj je oduzeti i glas. Upravo zato njen dnevnik danas djeluje kao čin zakašnjele, ali neumoljive pravde, ne samo prema njoj, nego prema svima čije su priče bile predugo potisnute i odbačene u ime lažne jednakosti patnje. Objavljivanje njenog dnevnika tako postaje ne samo svjedočenje o prošlom zlu, nego i otpor prema zaboravu koji dolazi prerušen u kolektivno pomirenje.
"Iz Belzena 1944-1945" nije samo Hanino svjedočanstvo logora; to je dokument o prekinutoj mladosti, o rasutim sudbinama jedne zajednice i o tihoj, gotovo nečujnoj borbi da se ostane čovjek. Do kraja svog života Hana Levi ostala je dosljedna sebi: provela je život boreći se protiv cionista i njihovih zločina, zauvijek odana Palestini. Iako je u logoru gajila čežnju da se vrati u svoju voljenu Jugoslaviju, u novoj državi nikada nije pronašla svoje mjesto, niti se u njoj snašla. Preselila se u Izrael, koji također nikada nije bio u potpunosti njen, i više puta je bježala iz njega, živeći na različitim destinacijama zbog izraelske kolonijalne i zločinačke ideologije s kojom se nije slagala. Svijet koji je poznavala i u koji je vjerovala nestao je zauvijek, a svaki novi dom samo je pojačavao osjećaj otuđenosti i gubitka. Njena pripadnost bila je uvijek negdje između, nikada potpuno u jednom mjestu, nikada u skladu s okolnostima kojima se nadala. Njenu borbu danas nastavlja njena kćerka, Amira Hass, koja je objavila ovaj dnevnik, prenoseći majčin glas pravde.
Naizgled sporedna činjenica, da je Hana Levi bila Sarajka i sefardska Jevrejka, kao i da je bila dijete ovog grada jednako kao što sam i sama, u meni otvara čitav niz emocionalnih pukotina. Čitajući njene zapise, imam gotovo nelagodan osjećaj bliskosti, osjećaj da sam je lično poznavala. Potpuno je nevjerovatno, pa i potresno, pomisliti da hodamo istim ulicama - ona u vremenu koje više ne postoji, a ja u ovdašnjem. Pitam se koliko puta su nam se putevi simbolično ukrstili: prema sarajevskoj tržnici, pošti, Vijećnici, Ferhadiji ili Titovoj ulici.
Zapanjujuće je koliko se bliskost može roditi iz oskudice detalja, jer Hana u svom dnevniku ne piše mnogo o sebi. Nema dugih introspekcija, nema potrebe da se dopadne čitaocu, nema literarnog ukrašavanja. Ipak, srce mi se lako priljubilo uz njen lik, upravo zbog te suzdržanosti; zato što znam odakle dolazi i zato što je njena sudbina utkana u kolektivnu historiju grada kojem i sama pripadam. Njen glas postaje produžetak nečega što smo izgubili, ali nikada do kraja oplakali.
Za one mekog i osjetljivog srca, kao i za čitaoce koji traže romantizaciju, razrađenu radnju ili emotivnu utjehu, ovaj dnevnik vjerovatno neće biti lako štivo, niti je pisan s tom namjerom, jer dnevnik "Iz Belzena 1944-1945" nije štivo koje ugađa. Zapisi su povremeni, fragmentirati i oštri, ogoljeni do kosti. Asketski u svojoj formi, oni su kratki i škrti, ali izrazito živi, brutalno direktni i bolno lucidni. U toj šturosti leži i njihova snaga, jer Hana Levi piše onako kako se živi u logoru, bez viška riječi i prostora za iluziju, sa stalnom sviješću gladi, bolesti, straha i neizvjesnosti, s tijelom koje pamti više nego što riječi mogu iznijeti, jer je postojala samo neumoljiva svakodnevica opstanka, bez luksuza patetike. Ta šturost nije manjak, već etički izbor: ona ne dramatizira jer stvarnost to ne dopušta. Svaka rečenica djeluje kao rez, a upravo ta suzdržanost čini svjedočanstvo još snažnijim, još istinitijim i još teže zaboravljivim.
Upravo u toj šutnji između rečenica, u onome što nije izgovoreno, dnevnik zadobija svoju najveću snagu. Čitalac je prisiljen da zastane, da udahne i da sam dopuni praznine. A meni, kao Sarajki, te praznine odzvanjaju jače nego što bih željela, jer znam da su to praznine u našem gradskom, kolektivnom pamćenju - slojevi sjećanja preko kojih hodamo svakodnevno, često nesvjesno. Znam da su to imena koja su nestala, glasovi koji su utihnuli, životi koji su prekinuti, a koji su mogli nastaviti hodati ovim istim ulicama. Čitati Hanu Levi znači čitati Sarajevo iz perspektive onoga što je nasilno istrgnuto iz njega. To nije lako čitanje, ali je nužno. I duboko, nepovratno lično.
Hana ne piše o strahu kao o apstraktnom osjećaju; on je ugrađen u svaki red i u svaku pauzu između rečenica. Kao žena, ona ne nudi herojski narativ, niti traži sažaljenje. Njena snaga nije u prkosu, nego u postojanju. U činjenici da zapisuje. Da pamti. Da bilježi čak i onda kada je tijelo na ivici izdržljivosti. U tom smislu, njen dnevnik je čin tihe pobune protiv brisanja, protiv anonimnosti, protiv zaborava.
Posebno bolan sloj Hanine priče otkriva se tek nakon rata, u trenutku kada se vraća u Beograd - grad u kojem je dugo boravila i kojem se, barem privremeno, nadala kao prostoru razumijevanja. Umjesto toga, nailazi na zid ravnodušnosti, pa i otvorenog osporavanja. Njena potreba da objavi svoj dnevnik, da strahote logora pretoči u riječi, dočekana je s hladnom frazom kolektivnog poravnanja: "to više nikoga ne zanima, svi smo patili, vrijeme je da se krene dalje". U tim rečenicama briše se razlika između gladi i izgladnjivanja, između straha i sistematskog uništavanja, između života u okupaciji i života u logoru.
Hani se, zapravo, ne osporava samo pravo na objavu i istinu, nego i pravo na specifičnost njenog iskustva. Njena patnja biva relativizirana, svedena na opštu kategoriju "ratnog stradanja", čime se gubi ono što je suštinsko: činjenica da niko ko nije prošao logor ne može u potpunosti razumjeti njegovu realnost. Ona narodna, gorka istina: "sit gladnom ne vjeruje", ovdje dobija svoju najokrutniju potvrdu. Oni koji su preživjeli na rubu egzistencije, ali izvan žica, osjećali su se pozvanima da presuđuju onima koji su živjeli unutar njih.
Ta tišina koja joj je nametnuta nakon oslobođenja možda je jednako porazna kao i sama trauma logora. Logor joj je oduzeo tijelo, zdravlje i godine, ali postratno društvo pokušalo joj je oduzeti i glas. Upravo zato njen dnevnik danas djeluje kao čin zakašnjele, ali neumoljive pravde, ne samo prema njoj, nego prema svima čije su priče bile predugo potisnute i odbačene u ime lažne jednakosti patnje. Objavljivanje njenog dnevnika tako postaje ne samo svjedočenje o prošlom zlu, nego i otpor prema zaboravu koji dolazi prerušen u kolektivno pomirenje.
"Iz Belzena 1944-1945" nije samo Hanino svjedočanstvo logora; to je dokument o prekinutoj mladosti, o rasutim sudbinama jedne zajednice i o tihoj, gotovo nečujnoj borbi da se ostane čovjek. Do kraja svog života Hana Levi ostala je dosljedna sebi: provela je život boreći se protiv cionista i njihovih zločina, zauvijek odana Palestini. Iako je u logoru gajila čežnju da se vrati u svoju voljenu Jugoslaviju, u novoj državi nikada nije pronašla svoje mjesto, niti se u njoj snašla. Preselila se u Izrael, koji također nikada nije bio u potpunosti njen, i više puta je bježala iz njega, živeći na različitim destinacijama zbog izraelske kolonijalne i zločinačke ideologije s kojom se nije slagala. Svijet koji je poznavala i u koji je vjerovala nestao je zauvijek, a svaki novi dom samo je pojačavao osjećaj otuđenosti i gubitka. Njena pripadnost bila je uvijek negdje između, nikada potpuno u jednom mjestu, nikada u skladu s okolnostima kojima se nadala. Njenu borbu danas nastavlja njena kćerka, Amira Hass, koja je objavila ovaj dnevnik, prenoseći majčin glas pravde.
April 13, 2019
Liking this book is not really accurate. I didn't really like it at all. It was difficult indeed to read the hopelessness and horrors that were experienced in this camp. So difficult, in fact, that I nearly stopped reading it several times. I persevered, though, because I felt I had no right to walk away from the events that were described, and described so eloquently. I was only reading about them. Hanna Lévy Haas and so many millions more LIVED them. How in the world could I not pay them the respect and homage they so richly deserve by putting the account of their experiences down? I couldn't do it. In the end, I feel that this book is as important as Elie Wiesel's Night. The book is not for the fainthearted, but it deserves to be read.
June 2, 2022
Hanna Levy (for she had yet to meet her husband when she wrote this searing work) had the determination and fortitude to record the horrors of Bergen-Belsen as they happened. This alone was an act of resistance that would have caused her unspeakable pain and punishment if her writing had been discovered.
Moreso, she had a clear and powerful voice, one she did not stint on evoking as she described the heartbreak and suffering that were an everyday lot. (Aged rutabaga “soup” being the least of it.)
She survived, she married, she bore a daughter. And all these decades, her journal waited to bear witness. At some point, she translated it (herself) to French. That document remains, but the location of her original does not.
One wonders — Anne Frank’s originals are preserved and on display forevermore for a sorrowing humanity. And yet why did it take so long for Hanna Levy-Hass and her blazing intellect and wartime observations to receive even a fraction of that attention? Was it in part because Anne died while Hanna lived? Was it perhaps due in part to Hanna’s political philosophy? And why did Hanna believe that she had nothing left to write about, when her insights during such turbulent times as 1948 and the Cold War would have had much merit.
Her daughter was involved with the English-language publication of her mother’s journal; indeed, her own prose bookends it. I hope she realized what a gift she gave the world by doing so.
Moreso, she had a clear and powerful voice, one she did not stint on evoking as she described the heartbreak and suffering that were an everyday lot. (Aged rutabaga “soup” being the least of it.)
She survived, she married, she bore a daughter. And all these decades, her journal waited to bear witness. At some point, she translated it (herself) to French. That document remains, but the location of her original does not.
One wonders — Anne Frank’s originals are preserved and on display forevermore for a sorrowing humanity. And yet why did it take so long for Hanna Levy-Hass and her blazing intellect and wartime observations to receive even a fraction of that attention? Was it in part because Anne died while Hanna lived? Was it perhaps due in part to Hanna’s political philosophy? And why did Hanna believe that she had nothing left to write about, when her insights during such turbulent times as 1948 and the Cold War would have had much merit.
Her daughter was involved with the English-language publication of her mother’s journal; indeed, her own prose bookends it. I hope she realized what a gift she gave the world by doing so.
March 1, 2017
Beautifully written diary entries from a woman who considered herself, her writing, and her experience unextraordinary. Brilliant writing that hints at the incredible mind behind it, and the loss to the world that she chose to keep this gift to herself.
October 30, 2025
Good book. While many imprisoned in work and death camps only survived by disregarding the lives of others, this person's socialist views helped her to make it through without throwing others to the wolves.
It is scandalous that the publishers think they can only make this seem relevant by establishing a younger relative's connection with the peace movement in Israel. Israel wasn't formed by Zionist plotters--it was formed because the Stalinist policies ended up aiding Hitler, and the "liberal democracies" had no interest in making room for those Jewish workers who managed to survive the Holocaust. How about blaming capitalism instead of blaming Jews. I agree--the Palestinians got shafted, but neither the liberal democracies or other Arabs had much interest in doing anything for them, and they haven't been willing to seek a compromise.
To learn more about this, read The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch by Lenin, Trotsky, and several leaders of the Socialist Workers Party. Also essential is The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation by Abram Leon, a Belgian Trotskyists who was killed in October 1944, at age 26, in the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz.
It is scandalous that the publishers think they can only make this seem relevant by establishing a younger relative's connection with the peace movement in Israel. Israel wasn't formed by Zionist plotters--it was formed because the Stalinist policies ended up aiding Hitler, and the "liberal democracies" had no interest in making room for those Jewish workers who managed to survive the Holocaust. How about blaming capitalism instead of blaming Jews. I agree--the Palestinians got shafted, but neither the liberal democracies or other Arabs had much interest in doing anything for them, and they haven't been willing to seek a compromise.
To learn more about this, read The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch by Lenin, Trotsky, and several leaders of the Socialist Workers Party. Also essential is The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation by Abram Leon, a Belgian Trotskyists who was killed in October 1944, at age 26, in the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz.
February 5, 2017
Hanna Lévy-Hass was a young Yugoslavian woman of jewish religion who survived to the internment inside the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
While inside the lager, she kept a diary, a chronicle of what happened daily inside the camp and her own feelings and reflections.
At first shocked by the appalling conditions she was forced to stay in, she managed to react and even to help others. She took every episode as a harsh lesson that could help her in the struggle for life.
She writes:
"I realized that people of dubious character and conscience are not as strong as they would have us believe, and that it's possible to win out over them in an open struggle."
The diary is preceded by an introduction written by Lévy-Hass's daugher, the Israeli journalist Amira Hass, who gives some helpful biographical information.
Amira also wrote the Afterword, which is an account of the situation of the European Jews after the end of the Second World War, but other publications exist on the matter that provide a better depiction of that part of history.
The closing essay by Ph.D Emil Kerenji gives an interesting account of the "coordinates that characterized Hanna Lévy-Hass teenage and
early adulthood" and influenced her thought.
In the same concentration camp where Anne Frank died, Hanna Lévy-Hass went through the same tortures: brutality, hunger, overcrowding, disease.
Her diary, besides being a valuable testimonial of the lived experience of Nazi internment, is an exhortation to fight against any form of oppression and barbarism.
July 27, 2014
A grim and disturbing account of a young girl's incarceration in one of the Second World War's most notorious camp. The diary gives a real sense of just how desperate conditions were in the first three months of 1945. The basic causes of these appalling circumstances were dreadful overcrowding, atrocious lack of food and the breakdown of the camp's contamination system which led to the deadly outbreak of typhoid which took so many lives before and after liberation.
Then there the SS who insulted and bullied the prisoners, especially the Jews, and who were undoubtedly responsible for many of the deaths. The author is now dead and both the introduction and the epilogue are written by her daughter.
This is a valuable record of a terrible time.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil (thebluepencil.co.uk)
davidlowtherblog.wordpress.com
Then there the SS who insulted and bullied the prisoners, especially the Jews, and who were undoubtedly responsible for many of the deaths. The author is now dead and both the introduction and the epilogue are written by her daughter.
This is a valuable record of a terrible time.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil (thebluepencil.co.uk)
davidlowtherblog.wordpress.com
August 5, 2016
Absolutely beautiful writing! Example:
Everything human is reduced to zero. . . . Memories of beauty are erased; the artistic joys of the past are inconceivable in our current state. The brain is as if paralysed, the spirit violated. . . . We have not died, but we are dead.
A very important work.
Everything human is reduced to zero. . . . Memories of beauty are erased; the artistic joys of the past are inconceivable in our current state. The brain is as if paralysed, the spirit violated. . . . We have not died, but we are dead.
A very important work.
January 5, 2018
I wanted more of this! Levy-Hass' diary is a moving, short depiction of a year of imprisonment at Bergen-Belsen. There is an interesting forward and afterward by her daughter, and an afterward about the Yugoslav language, but it just isn't enough. Having read many Holocaust memoirs, I had a literary idea of what Levy-Hass was writing about, but if this is someone's first read, I think there are many issues mentioned that would be kind of difficult to follow/understand.
I was really drawn into this memoir, and just fond myself wanting so much more - knowledge of everything from the confusion of what the former Yugoslavia was, to the pre-war years of Levy-Hass, particularly as a Sephardic Jew, her relationships with her family, friends, and polticial comrades. I also found myself wanting to know much more about the husband she married after the war. I wanted to know about her life after WWII started and before she was deported.
I would recommend this book with a warning that it really is someone's diary, and published without too much context, so it is to be read for what it is. It is heartbreaking.
I was really drawn into this memoir, and just fond myself wanting so much more - knowledge of everything from the confusion of what the former Yugoslavia was, to the pre-war years of Levy-Hass, particularly as a Sephardic Jew, her relationships with her family, friends, and polticial comrades. I also found myself wanting to know much more about the husband she married after the war. I wanted to know about her life after WWII started and before she was deported.
I would recommend this book with a warning that it really is someone's diary, and published without too much context, so it is to be read for what it is. It is heartbreaking.
February 13, 2025
Ponerle nota a un libro se me antoja hasta irrespetuoso, porque no entra dentro del esquema de gustarte/no gustarte. Es un diario muy difícil de leer, relata las humillaciones, las vejaciones, los abusos y todo lo que tuvieron que pasar los prisioneros de Bergen-Belsen.
Las últimas páginas se me han hecho especialmente duras. Con el acercamiento de los aliados el campo se vuelve aún más extremo, las muertes se suceden con una rapidez pasmosa, inconcebible. Las personas ya han perdido la esperanza de una pronta liberación, ya tan sólo ven la muerte rondarles de cerca, y tampoco tienen fuerzas para lamentar la muerte de los demás. Se puede ver claramente cómo la autora ve su fin delante de ella, es muy angustiante. Aún así creo que todo el mundo debería leerlo para que no se nos olvide todo lo que ocurrió.
Las últimas páginas se me han hecho especialmente duras. Con el acercamiento de los aliados el campo se vuelve aún más extremo, las muertes se suceden con una rapidez pasmosa, inconcebible. Las personas ya han perdido la esperanza de una pronta liberación, ya tan sólo ven la muerte rondarles de cerca, y tampoco tienen fuerzas para lamentar la muerte de los demás. Se puede ver claramente cómo la autora ve su fin delante de ella, es muy angustiante. Aún así creo que todo el mundo debería leerlo para que no se nos olvide todo lo que ocurrió.
April 13, 2019
Liking this book is not really accurate. I didn't really like it at all. It was difficult indeed to read the hopelessness and horrors that were experienced in this camp. So difficult, in fact, that I nearly stopped reading it several times. I persevered, though, because I felt I had no right to walk away from the events that were described, and described so eloquently. I was only reading about them. Hanna Lévy Haas and so many millions more LIVED them. How in the world could I not pay them the respect and homage they so richly deserve by putting the account of their experiences down? I couldn't do it. In the end, I feel that this book is as important as Elie Wiesel's Night. The book is not for the fainthearted, but it deserves to be read.
Read
July 18, 2023If this is authentic (it's a translation of the author's French translation of the [now lost] Serbo-Croatian original), it is a remarkable document. That anyone would have the means -- writing materials, privacy, and energy -- to keep a diary in Bergen-Belsen is astonishing. Levy-Hass combines reflections on cruelty and suffering with details of everyday existence in the camps.
The diary itself is rather brief; it is supplemented by an essay by her journalist daughter, which describes her mother's life after the war and her difficulties in Israel, where she was usually at odds with the government, and by a scholarly essay on prewar Jewish identity in Central and Eastern Europe. The volume is a reminder that the postwar world was even more complicated than we think.
The diary itself is rather brief; it is supplemented by an essay by her journalist daughter, which describes her mother's life after the war and her difficulties in Israel, where she was usually at odds with the government, and by a scholarly essay on prewar Jewish identity in Central and Eastern Europe. The volume is a reminder that the postwar world was even more complicated than we think.
February 28, 2023
A lot of Philosophic Thoughts...
But a bit of a mish mash. I wrote a long review to this which then promptly disappeared. Can't face redoing it. My suggestion would be to read Emil Kerensky's article at the end of the book first for context and skip the daughter's part until after you read the diary. While it may be a bit dense, it will give you more of an understanding of how Hanna fit into the historical and philosophic background of her part of the Balkans that formed her point of view in the Diary. The diary itself is a quick read. Her daughter's ramblings about guilt, forgetfulness and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict just confuse if read first.
But a bit of a mish mash. I wrote a long review to this which then promptly disappeared. Can't face redoing it. My suggestion would be to read Emil Kerensky's article at the end of the book first for context and skip the daughter's part until after you read the diary. While it may be a bit dense, it will give you more of an understanding of how Hanna fit into the historical and philosophic background of her part of the Balkans that formed her point of view in the Diary. The diary itself is a quick read. Her daughter's ramblings about guilt, forgetfulness and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict just confuse if read first.
August 19, 2023
Very moving and heart-wrenching account of one woman's survival at the hands of Nazi cruelty, along with her daughter's posts diary summation.
While Hannah's life in the concentration camp is seen as history, the description of her homeland, Yugoslavia, gives the reader a lot to ponder regarding the entire region post WWII, into the ethnic war of the 1990s, and how the disparate groups are managing to live alongside each other to this day.
Hanna was a very modern and adorable woman, one who has left us with much to contemplate regarding injustice throughout the world to this day. So much to think about!
While Hannah's life in the concentration camp is seen as history, the description of her homeland, Yugoslavia, gives the reader a lot to ponder regarding the entire region post WWII, into the ethnic war of the 1990s, and how the disparate groups are managing to live alongside each other to this day.
Hanna was a very modern and adorable woman, one who has left us with much to contemplate regarding injustice throughout the world to this day. So much to think about!
July 10, 2020
How brave was she to keep a diary during a time when she would have been killed or beaten severely if it was known?
Hanna’s experiences in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp spells out a very graphic existence of fear, disease, starvation, and for many, hopelessness. While reading this book, I could visualize the skeleton-like people who were made to suffer at the hand of the German SS. Everyone needs to read this book. This tragic time in history should never be forgotten.
Hanna’s experiences in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp spells out a very graphic existence of fear, disease, starvation, and for many, hopelessness. While reading this book, I could visualize the skeleton-like people who were made to suffer at the hand of the German SS. Everyone needs to read this book. This tragic time in history should never be forgotten.
October 4, 2021
I work in law enforcement so daily I encounter some of the worst humanity has to offer this world… and yet there were times I had to stop reading this book because my heart couldn’t take what she went through. I cannot begin to understand what causes people to commit the atrocities Hanna describes in her diary (sometimes in painfully vivid detail). The trauma, lack of closure, never feeling at home again… is so overwhelmingly devastating and my heart goes out to her and so many others who went through similar experiences or were like her daughter, left with so many questions and things unresolved.
A definite must read.
A definite must read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2020
Hanna Lévy-Hass va escriure aquest diari durant el temps que va estar empresonada a Bergen-Belsen i, malgrat ser breu, suposa una càrrega emocional immensa pel lector i està ple de reflexions lúcides i dures contra la societat alemanya de mitjans del segle XX, que va tolerar el genocidi. Una lectura totalment inoblidable que comparo amb la de Charlotte Delbo.
February 28, 2022
The diary of Hanna Levy tells the remarkable story of her year in Bergen-Belsen before its liberation by British forces in April 1945. Included is an introduction to the diary, written by her daughter that provides insight into her mother's life after the war and the impact that her experiences had on her life choices.
May 27, 2023
Was a good insight to what the people in Bergen-Belsen death camp went through and what the conditions were. A little difficult to read in the beginning. It goes over history and locations of countries that I personally am not familiar with. Once you get into the actual diary entries it gets better.
January 5, 2025
Lo he escuchado de un tiron. No puedo decir que me gusto, porque es muy duro. Pero todos deberiamos leerlo, porque desgraciadamente esto ha pasado y no podemos permitirnos el lujo de olvidarlo. Muy recomendable
June 1, 2017
I think that this was interesting, and I liked that it had basically mini history lessons throughout.
Book 52/50 (2017)
Book 52/50 (2017)
Want to read
November 11, 2020Thankyou Haymarketbooks for book discount from $9.99 into $ 1.00
January 18, 2025
U kontekstu danasnjih desavanja u svijetu, nezaobilazna knjiga.
March 24, 2010
Although the introduction (by Hass' daughter)was interesting, I found the diary entries mostly rambling, lacking any narrative and full of strange political thoughts. Not one to diss a survivor's diary, but I didn't see anything here that added to the knowledge of the experience. Maybe that's why she told her daughter she was like all the others and did't want to write a book of her story.
February 17, 2014
Very interesting to read this new perspective on the experience in a concentration camp.
March 23, 2016
Too philosophical if you ask me, but still a great memoir from the time period.
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