Rutka Laskier
Encyclopedia
Rutka Laskier (1929–1943) was a Jewish teenager from Poland
who is best known for her 1943 diary chronicling three months of her life during the Holocaust
.
(now Gdańsk
, a port city in northern Poland), then a predominantly German
-speaking autonomous city-state
, where her father, Jakub (Yaakov) Laskier, worked as a bank officer. Her family was well off, her grandfather serving as co-owner of Laskier-Kleinberg and Company, a milling company that owned and operated a grist mill
. In the early 1930s she moved with her family to the southern Polish
city of Będzin
, whence her father's parents had come. While there, in 1943, at the age of 14, Laskier wrote a 60-page diary in Polish
, chronicling several months of her life under Nazi rule, which was not released to the public until 2005.photo
Laskier's family was forced to move to Będzin's Jewish ghetto
during World War II
. Laskier was believed to have died in a gas chamber, along with her mother and brother, upon her arrival with her family in August 1943 at the Auschwitz concentration camp
, at the age of 14. However, it was revealed in 2008 that she was not sent to the gas chambers. In a published account of her time in Auschwitz, Zofia Minc, who was a fellow prisoner, revealed that Laskier slept in the barrack next to her until falling victim to a cholera
outbreak in December 1943. The girl pushed Laskier, still alive, in a wheelbarrow to the crematorium. Rutka begged Zofia to take her to the electric fence
where she could kill herself, but an SS
guard following them would not allow it.
Rutka's father was the only member of the family who survived the Holocaust. Following World War II, he emigrated to Israel
, where he remarried and had another daughter, Zahava Scherz. He died in 1986. According to Zahava Scherz, interviewed in the BBC documentary "The Secret Diary of the Holocaust" (broadcast in January 2009), he never told Scherz about Rutka until she discovered a photo album when she herself was 14, which contained a picture of Rutka with her younger brother. Zahava explains that she asked her father who they were and he answered her truthfully, but never spoke further about it. Zahava went on to explain that she learnt of the existence of Rutka's diary in 2006, and she expressed how much it has meant to her finally to be able to get to know her half-sister, to whom she felt a closeness after reading her diary.
The diary begins on January 19 with the entry "I cannot grasp that it is already 1943, four years since this hell began." One of the final entries says "If only I could say, it's over, you die only once... But I can't, because despite all these atrocities, I want to live, and wait for the following day."
Laskier gradually came to believe that she would not survive, and, realizing the importance of her diary as a document of what had happened to the Jewish population of Będzin, asked Sapińska to help her hide the diary. Sapińska showed Laskier how to hide the diary in her house under the double flooring in a staircase, between the first and second floors. After the ghetto was evacuated and all its inhabitants sent to the death camp, Sapińska returned to the house and retrieved the diary. She kept it in her home library for 63 years and did not share it with anyone but members of her immediate family. In 2005, Adam Szydłowski, the chairman of the Center of Jewish Culture of the Zagłębie Region of Poland, was told by one of Sapińska's nieces about the existence of the diary. With help from Sapińska's nephew, he obtained a photocopy
of the diary and was instrumental in the publishing of its Polish-language edition. Its publication by Yad Vashem Publications was commemorated with a ceremony in Jerusalem by Yad Vashem
(the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority), Israel
's Holocaust museum
, on June 4, 2007, in which Laskier's half-sister Zahava Scherz took part. At this ceremony, Sapińska also donated the original diary to Yad Vashem, in violation of Polish law.
The diary, which has been authenticated by Holocaust scholars and survivors, has been compared to the diary
of Anne Frank
, the best known Holocaust-era diary. The two girls were approximately the same age when they wrote their respective diaries (Laskier at age 14 and Frank between the ages of 13 and 15).
and Hebrew
translations of the diary, entitled Rutka's Notebook: January–April 1943.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
who is best known for her 1943 diary chronicling three months of her life during the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
Biography
Laskier was born in the Free City of DanzigFree City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas....
(now Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, a port city in northern Poland), then a predominantly German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-speaking autonomous city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
, where her father, Jakub (Yaakov) Laskier, worked as a bank officer. Her family was well off, her grandfather serving as co-owner of Laskier-Kleinberg and Company, a milling company that owned and operated a grist mill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
. In the early 1930s she moved with her family to the southern Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
city of Będzin
Bedzin
Będzin is a city in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza river , the city borders the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metro area with a population of about 2 million.It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its...
, whence her father's parents had come. While there, in 1943, at the age of 14, Laskier wrote a 60-page diary in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, chronicling several months of her life under Nazi rule, which was not released to the public until 2005.photo
Laskier's family was forced to move to Będzin's Jewish ghetto
Ghettos in occupied Europe 1939-1944
During World War II, ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe were set up by the Third Reich in order to confine Jews and sometimes Gypsies into tightly packed areas of the cities...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Laskier was believed to have died in a gas chamber, along with her mother and brother, upon her arrival with her family in August 1943 at the Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, at the age of 14. However, it was revealed in 2008 that she was not sent to the gas chambers. In a published account of her time in Auschwitz, Zofia Minc, who was a fellow prisoner, revealed that Laskier slept in the barrack next to her until falling victim to a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
outbreak in December 1943. The girl pushed Laskier, still alive, in a wheelbarrow to the crematorium. Rutka begged Zofia to take her to the electric fence
Electric fence
An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter animals or people from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from uncomfortable, to painful or even lethal...
where she could kill herself, but an SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
guard following them would not allow it.
Rutka's father was the only member of the family who survived the Holocaust. Following World War II, he emigrated to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, where he remarried and had another daughter, Zahava Scherz. He died in 1986. According to Zahava Scherz, interviewed in the BBC documentary "The Secret Diary of the Holocaust" (broadcast in January 2009), he never told Scherz about Rutka until she discovered a photo album when she herself was 14, which contained a picture of Rutka with her younger brother. Zahava explains that she asked her father who they were and he answered her truthfully, but never spoke further about it. Zahava went on to explain that she learnt of the existence of Rutka's diary in 2006, and she expressed how much it has meant to her finally to be able to get to know her half-sister, to whom she felt a closeness after reading her diary.
Diary
From January 19 to April 24, 1943, without her family's knowledge, Laskier kept a diary in an ordinary school notebook, writing in both ink and pencil, making entries sporadically. In it, she discussed atrocities she witnessed committed by the Nazis, and described daily life in the ghetto, as well as innocent teenage love interests. She also wrote about the gas chambers at the concentration camps, indicating that the horrors of the camps had filtered back to those still living in the ghettos.The diary begins on January 19 with the entry "I cannot grasp that it is already 1943, four years since this hell began." One of the final entries says "If only I could say, it's over, you die only once... But I can't, because despite all these atrocities, I want to live, and wait for the following day."
Discovery of Laskier's diary
In 1943, while writing the diary, Laskier shared it with Stanisława Sapińska (21 years old, at that time), whom she had befriended after Laskier's family moved into a home owned by Sapińska's Roman Catholic family, which had been confiscated by the Nazis so that it could be included in the ghetto.Laskier gradually came to believe that she would not survive, and, realizing the importance of her diary as a document of what had happened to the Jewish population of Będzin, asked Sapińska to help her hide the diary. Sapińska showed Laskier how to hide the diary in her house under the double flooring in a staircase, between the first and second floors. After the ghetto was evacuated and all its inhabitants sent to the death camp, Sapińska returned to the house and retrieved the diary. She kept it in her home library for 63 years and did not share it with anyone but members of her immediate family. In 2005, Adam Szydłowski, the chairman of the Center of Jewish Culture of the Zagłębie Region of Poland, was told by one of Sapińska's nieces about the existence of the diary. With help from Sapińska's nephew, he obtained a photocopy
Photocopier
A photocopier is a machine that makes paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply. Most current photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process using heat...
of the diary and was instrumental in the publishing of its Polish-language edition. Its publication by Yad Vashem Publications was commemorated with a ceremony in Jerusalem by Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
(the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority), Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's Holocaust museum
Holocaust museum
The term Holocaust museum may refer to:*Ani Ma'amin Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem*Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education & Tolerance*Florida Holocaust Museum*Holocaust Museum Houston*Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center...
, on June 4, 2007, in which Laskier's half-sister Zahava Scherz took part. At this ceremony, Sapińska also donated the original diary to Yad Vashem, in violation of Polish law.
The diary, which has been authenticated by Holocaust scholars and survivors, has been compared to the diary
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944 and Anne Frank ultimately died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen...
of Anne Frank
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
, the best known Holocaust-era diary. The two girls were approximately the same age when they wrote their respective diaries (Laskier at age 14 and Frank between the ages of 13 and 15).
Publication of diary
The manuscript, as edited by Stanisław Bubin, was published in the Polish language by a Polish publisher in early 2006. In June 2007, Yad Vashem Publications published EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
translations of the diary, entitled Rutka's Notebook: January–April 1943.
Printings
- Laskier, Rutka (2006). Pamiętnik Rutki Laskier (Rutka Laskier's Diary). Katowice, Poland. ISBN 978-83-89956-42-2.
- Laskier, Rutka (2007). Rutka's Notebook: January–April 1943. Foreword by Dr. Zahava Sherz; historical introduction by Dr. Bella Gutterman. Jerusalem, Israel: Yad Vashem Publications.
Films
- 2009 - The Secret Diary of the Holocaust (BBC OneBBC OneBBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
)
See also
- Auschwitz
- Hélène BerrHélène BerrHélène Berr was a Jewish French woman, who documented her life in a diary during the time of Nazi occupation of France. In France she is considered to be a "French Anne Frank".- Life :...
- a French diarist - Hana BradyHana BradyHana Brady was a 13-year old Jewish girl murdered in the Holocaust. She is the subject of the 2002 non-fiction children's book Hana's Suitcase, written by Karen Levine.-Biography:Hana Brady was born in Nové Mesto, Czechoslovakia on May 16, 1931...
- Jewish girl and holocaust victim; subject of the children's book Hana's Suitcase - Helga DeenHelga DeenHelga Deen was the author of a diary, discovered in 2004, which describes her stay in a Dutch prison camp, Kamp Vught, where she was brought during World War II at the age of 18....
– wrote a diary in Herzogenbusch concentration camp (Camp Vught) - Anne FrankAnne FrankAnnelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
- a Jewish girl an holocaust victim; author of The Diary of a Young GirlThe Diary of a Young GirlThe Diary of a Young Girl is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944 and Anne Frank ultimately died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen... - Etty HillesumEtty HillesumEsther "Etty" Hillesum was a young Jewish woman whose letters and diaries, kept between 1941 and 1943 describe life in Amsterdam during the German occupation...
– wrote a diary in Amsterdam and Camp Westerbork - Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence: A Voegelinian AnalysisEtty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence: A Voegelinian AnalysisEtty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence: A Voegelinian Analysis is a 2008 book by Dutch philosopher Dr. Meins G. S. Coetsier, staff member of the Etty Hillesum Research Centre , director of the Centre of Eric Voegelin Studies at Ugent and founder of the Flow of Presence Academy .-Eric...
- JungJungCarl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology.Jung may also refer to:* Jung * JUNG, Java Universal Network/Graph Framework-See also:...
- Věra KohnováVera KohnováVěra Kohnová was a Jewish girl from Czechoslovakia. She wrote a diary about her feelings and about events during the Nazi occupation. Her diary was published in 2006....
- a Czech diarist - David KokerDavid KokerThe Jewish student David Koker lived with his family in Amsterdam until he was captured on the night of 11 February 1943 and transported to camp Vught....
– wrote a diary in Herzogenbusch concentration camp (Camp Vught) - Janet LanghartJanet LanghartJanet Langhart Cohen is an American model, television journalist and author. She serves as President and CEO of Langhart Communications and is the spouse of former Defense Secretary William Cohen...
– Writer of one act play "Anne and Emmett" - List of diarists
- List of posthumous publications of Holocaust victims
- Sam PivnikSam PivnikSam Pivnik is a Holocaust survivor born on 1 September 1926 in Bedzin, in South-western Poland near the border with Germany, the second son of Lajb Piwnik, a tailor, and Feigel Piwnik....
- Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria RilkeRené Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, a German poet who influenced her thoughts and diary writings. - Tanya SavichevaTanya SavichevaTatiana Nikolayevna Savicheva , commonly referred to as Tanya Savicheva was a Soviet child diarist who endured the Siege of Leningrad during World War II.- Early life :...
- Sophie SchollSophie SchollSophia Magdalena Scholl was a German student, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich with her brother Hans...
- German student executed by the Nazis - Westerbork
- Calel PerechodnikCalel PerechodnikCalel Perechodnik was a Polish Jew who joined the Jewish Ghetto Police in the Otwock Ghetto during the Nazi German occupation of Poland...
- Polish Jewish Ghetto Policeman who wrote a memoir Am I a Murderer? - Henio ZytomirskiHenio ZytomirskiHenio Zytomirski , was a Polish Jew born in Lublin, Poland and was murdered at the age of 9 in a gas chamber in Majdanek concentration camp, during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Henio became an icon of the Holocaust, not only in Lublin but all over Poland...
- Polish boy who was a holocaust victim
Further reading
- Rutka Laskier diary page from Yad Vashem site
- Photo of Laskier's original diary
- Article about the diary of Rutka Laskier (Polish)
- Articles about Rutka Laskier (Polish)
External links
- NPR story from All Things Considered program, July 5, 2007
- WPR Interview with Zahava Scherz, Rutka Laskier's half sister, read excerpts
- BBC - BBC One Programmes - The Secret Diary of the Holocaust detailing the 2009 BBC Documentary "The Secret Diary of the Holocast" which largely follows Zahava Scherz's journey to discover her half-sister and contains her own account of family life with their shared father after the war.