Helga's Dairy

By: Helga Weiss
Location: NF 920 WEI
Genre: Holocaust

Justin Beiber has done it again- the headlines. But I am not sure if the Media have this one right. Beiber goes to Anne Frank’s place in Amsterdam and writes in the guest book and declares his admiration for her and hopes that if she had been alive today she would have been a Beliber.

Maybe it was a humble statement, Justin wanting Anne to respect him and being honoured to have someone with courage, integrity, the ability not to annoy neighbours or be noticed everywhere or anywhere she went. Maybe he wants to be like her and can't, and wants so much for someone of her qualities to like him, when recently he is lacking in those. Maybe it was a genuine comment from a lad who has forgotten who he really is.

This book is similar to Anne Frank’s Diary except Helga lived to tell the story and with it comes her art. I went to the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem and at that time they had an art gallery of kid’s art drawn in the concentration camps- it was the most haunting thing of the whole museum.  Art speaks! This story tells of deportment, Auschwitz and survival after the war was over – she was one of 100 who survived out of 15,000 children. This story is reconstructed from her original notebooks, which were rediscovered in her flat behind a brick wall after her uncle had hidden them there.

The last part of the book is an interview with Helga- she married after the war, had two children, three grandchildren and lives in the flat she was originally deported from. This book is dedicated to all young people that they may never have to experience what she had to at 8 years of age.

It is a great read , a shuddering read and reminder to never forget!!