The Secret Holocaust Diaries
The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister
“For Half a Century, a terrible secret lay hidden, locked in a trunk in an attic…”
The Novel starts off with an introduction that Nonna written herself, “I have now decided that the time has come when I must share my life story…the events described in the following pages were written from my diaries and notes that were transcribed from the four to six languages in which I had written them-starting when I was nine years old. I have translated the poems and thoughts and scripts into English…”
The first chapter is Nonna writing in her diary about being boarded on to a train to a labor camp for Russian and Polish Women on August 7th, 1942 in Konstantinovka, Ukraine. The trains hold many events but the most appalling one happened when a Jewish woman runs along the train, pleading with the women to take her baby and give her a Russian name. She then tosses the baby towards the train and Nonna’s mother, Anna catches her. The women agreed to give her the same, Sarah. One young woman was terrified and threatened to tell the SS soldiers about the baby Jewish girl. Soon the train stopped, the baby was crying and the woman yelled at the German soldiers, telling then about the baby. One of the soldiers snatched the baby from Anna by the feet and smashed it against his knee. The crying had stopped. After this chapter, Nonna shares her family background for three chapters. She then shares her childhood all through her teenage years and finally her adult memories.
One by one, her family members disappear from her life. By the time she was 16 in 1943; her mother had to go to a “meeting” at the Gestapo and never came back. Anna still sent letters to Nonna, but never once said how she was tortured and forced to play piano and violin with broken fingers and arms. Nonna continued to study diligently to become a nurse with the help from the nurses, sisters, and priests who were like her second family. Months later, Anna had died in an incinerator after she had become of no more use to the Nazis just days before that very camp was liberated in May of 1945. Nonna, although heartbroken after receiving a letter from her mother along with another note from a friend of Anna, letting Nonna know what had happened to her mother, Nonna still studied hard to finish her education. When she had gotten a position at a hospital in Germany that filled with holocaust survivors, Nonna began to search for her mother. She still hoped that her mother was still alive but her search was fruitless. Slowly, with the help of her new friends who were also the last surviving member of their families accepted that mother was really gone.
She decided to carry out her father’s dream and moved to America. Arriving in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on June 6th, 1950 and married Henry Bannister on June 23rd, 1951. Nonna had not told Henry or any of their three children about her experience in the holocaust until one day, after 53 years of marriage, Nonna had revealed what she has been doing in the attic every day for so many years. “Henry, it’s time.” She said and led Henry up to the attic where, she took a key and unlocked her trunk, sharing with him, photographs. Finally, she handed him a thick stack of paper….her whole dairy….her life story…all translated into English. She climbed down the attic stairs as he began to read. After Nonna has died, her children and husband went up to the attic to the old trunk and began the journey to share Nonna Bannister’s story with the world.
My Opinions…
The Secret Holocaust Diaries had truly touched my heart. Compared to other holocaust stories like “Night”, I can tell Nonna tries not to make this book all about death and sadness. She shares what she remembers of her family and ties in happy memories as to balance out the horrible events that took place. It amazes me how she was able to live with no bitterness or anger even though she is the lone survivor in her family. I admire her strength, devotion and faith that is obvious to me in her writing. I can also say that this story is inspiring and gives hope to some who cannot find a silver lining in the darkness.
Until Next Time...
~Fiction-Book-Reviewer
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