Miriam Chaszczewacki or Miriam Chaszczewacka (1924–1942) was a 15-year-old Jewish girl and

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

victim who in 1939 began writing a personal diary about her life in the

Radomsko Radomsko is a city in southern Poland with 44,700 inhabitants (2021). It is situated on the Radomka river in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the county seat ...

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

which ended a few days before her death in 1942.

Discovery and publication of the diary

Miriam's teacher Stefania Heilbrunn returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

had ended. While she was visiting the city cemetery, she met a Polish woman who gave her a sealed envelope saying: "My son has asked me to give this to you. I don't know anything about it" and left. In the envelope Heilbrunn found a notebook with handwriting she recognized as belonging to her former student, Miriam Chaszczewacki. Heilbrunn brought the notebook to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and published its content. Originally the diary was written in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

. Parts of the diary were published in Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, English and German. The original notebook was donated to

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

Life

Miriam's mother Sarah Lavit Zelber, born to a Hassidic family was a kindergarten teacher and a public figure. Miriam's father David was born in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. He opened a Jewish school in Radomsko where he taught Hebrew. This school was later active in the ghetto. Miriam's brother Nahum was born in 1929. Miriam was a 15-year-old gymnasium student and a member of a

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

youth movement when the war began. She is described as a gentle, sensitive, intelligent and talented girl who studied Hebrew in her father's school.נערה בגיטו, page 4. In another testimony, she is described as a shy, romantic and dreamy teenager. Miriam's father and brother were murdered in the ghetto by the Germans. The father, David, was killed for refusing to board a deportation train. The brother Nahum was buried in a mass grave in the Jewish cemetery.

Chapters of the diary

The diary begins with the introductory chapter that describes the events between the summer of 1939 and the occupation of Radomsko by the Germans in September 1939. The second part of the diary consists of 27 dated entries starting at 21 April 1941 describing the events of the war and ghetto life along with the typical account of a teenage girl's emotions.

Death

The last entry in the diary in Miriam's handwriting was on 7 October 1942, when Miriam was 18. Between 9 and 12 October 1942 about 14,000 residents of the ghetto were sent to

Treblinka Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...

. In the last page of the notebook appears an entry in a different, adult, handwriting, possibly by the Polish policeman who was the son of the woman who passed the notebook to Stefania Heilbrunn:

On the evening of the 24 October 1942 she surrendered, together with her mother, to a Polish policeman on duty on Limanewskeigo Str. They asked to be taken to the Judenrat, as they have been hiding for a week in a lavatory and had enough of it all. During the last 3 days they ate raw groats. They were taken to the Police station and the next day left with a transport by lorry to
Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...
.

In one of the diary's last entries, about a month before her death, Miriam wrote:

It may seem silly, but only a step away from death I still worry about my diary. I would not want for it to meet a miserable end in an oven or on a rubbish heap. I wish somebody could find it – even if it be only a German – and would read it. I wish that these scribblings, though they record barely a fraction of the cruelties, would one day serve as a true and faithful document of our times.

References

External links

History of the Radomsko ghetto (Polish)
including portions of Miriam's diary on th
Radomsko history museum siteinspired by the diary
Europeana {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaszczewacki, Miriam Polish diarists Polish women writers People who died in ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe Jewish women writers Women diarists 1924 births 1942 deaths Holocaust diarists Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust