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The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister
The Secret Holocaust Diaries The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister
Author: Nonna Bannister, Denise George, Carolyn Tomlin
Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna's writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the...  more »
ISBN-13: 9781414325460
ISBN-10: 1414325460
Publication Date: 4/1/2009
Pages: 300
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 8

3.6 stars, based on 8 ratings
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 2
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

IlliniAlum83 avatar reviewed The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister on + 181 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I was glad to read a survivor story from the point of view of a wealthy Russian family caught up in not just the Communist Revolution, worldwide depression and WWII, but the eventual transport of 2 members of the family to labor camps in Germany.
Although a story that needs to be told by a survivor of circumstances different from most WWII or Holocaust survivor memoirs, the disorganization of the writing is shameful. The two American editors of the childhood pages translated from several languages by the author before her death after over 50 years of marriage to an American did the family no favors in sharing the story the way they did.
In many places one telling of an incident is immediately succeeded on the next page by the same story. It leaves one wondering whether the editing was just that poor or if they meant to publish it that way.
Many helpful resources were added at the back of the book including a family tree, glossary of terms and names, and a chronological timeline. Throughout the book, endnotes are added to clarify discrepancies that seem to appear in the diary translations as well as some historic facts that add to a child's telling of a situation. But none of these save the book's shortcomings. The lack of clarity and out of order telling of some family memories just diminishes the power of Nonna's story.
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