The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

by Nonna Bannister, Denise George (With), Carolyn Tomlin (With)

Overview

Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she had kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust. This book reveals that story. Nonna’s childhood writings, revisited in her late adulthood, tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl from a family that had known wealth and privilege, then exposed to German labor camps, learned the value of human life and the importance of forgiveness. This story of loss, of love, and of forgiveness is one you will not forget.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781414325477
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2010
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	639,279
Product dimensions:	5.64(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Denise George, author of 22 books, has written more than 1,500 articles for Redbook, Essence, Guideposts, Christianity Today, Decision, Preaching Magazine, and more than 80 other magazine markets. She is a judge for the 2008 Christy awards, has worked with Chuck Colson, and has written many of his BreakPoint commentaries. She speaks internationally at higher-education institutions, pastors’ conferences, and other forums. Denise is married to Dr. Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School, Samford University. They live in Birmingham, Alabama and have two grown children.

Carolyn Tomlin has combined her educational career with writing and photography and writes monthly for The City News (Jackson, Tennessee), www.earlychildhood.com, Baptist & Reflector, and Children’s Ministry (Group Pub. Co.). She is the author of eight books, including More Alike Than Different and First Steps in Missions, and is a frequent speaker for women’s ministries, teacher-training workshops, and writing conferences. She is a native of Jackson, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Matt. They have two adult children and six grandchildren.

Read an Excerpt

The secret HOLOCAUST DIARIES

The untold story of Nonna Bannister

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By Nonna Bannister
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2009

NLB Partners
All right reserved.


ISBN: 978-1-4143-2546-0

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Chapter One Boarding the Train

August 7, 1942-Konstantinowka, Ukraine

It is fourteen hours and fifteen minutes (2:15 p.m.), and we were just loaded on the train! My God-this is not what we thought it would be like to make this journey! We are packed like sardines in a can into the cattle cars of the train. The German soldiers with their rifles are with us and Mama is scared. (I know that she is.) Mama still thinks we can get off the train and leave our luggage behind and walk home. There is Grandmother standing about twenty feet away, looking so shocked and in dismay-she is crying-with the tears running down her face as she waves good-bye. Somehow, I know that we will never see her again.

As the train starts to move, Mama and I just look at Grandmother until she is out of sight. At the hour of 1600 (4:00 p.m.) everyone inside our car is very quiet and nobody is talking. Some are crying quietly-and I am glad that I have my diary and two pencils.

I got into the corner as far as I could so I would have some room to write. Now the door of our car is open, but I can hear some noises from the top of the roof. The German soldiers had positioned themselves on the top of the train, and they are talking and singing-I think they are drinking-they sound drunk to me.

It is almost midnight-the moon is so full-and we are crossing large fields. I need to get closer to the door so I can get some fresh air. As I approach the open door, I see a pair of legs in black boots dangling right above the door-then this face leans down and the soldier yells, "Hi, pretty one!" and I get away from the door very quickly. Mama pulls me closer to herself, and I think I am getting sleepy.

August 8, 1942

When we wake up, we can look into the horizon and see the sun rising from the edges of the biggest fields that I have ever seen-it is a beautiful sunrise! Where are we? How close are we to Kiev? The train is slowing down, and it looks as though we will stop moving.

August 9, 1942

We are in Kiev, but the train stopped at least a block away from the large train station. The Germans jumped down, and I could see how many of them there were-we were surrounded. They were telling us to get out-"Raus, raus." We saw trucks approaching the train, loaded with German soldiers and German shepherd dogs (lots of dogs). There was a truck loaded with food (soup made with cabbage and potatoes, and there was black bread). They passed out some bowls to us, and as we walked to the food truck, I looked to the back of the train and I saw two cars loaded with Jews. They were not allowed to get out-the doors of their cars were barred with heavy metal bars, and the German soldiers were guarding them. I saw old men, women, children, and even some babies. They were begging us to give them some of our bread with their thin (almost skeleton like) hands stuck out through the bars. I started to go there with my food, but just as I got close to them, a German soldier shouted at me and commanded me to get back or he would shoot me if I dared come any closer.

SEPARATE CARS The Jewish prisoners, headed for concentration "death" camps, were in the same transport but rode in separate train cars from the Russian women, who were headed for the labor camps. The Nazis allowed the Russian women to leave their cars, go into the woods to relieve themselves, and eat. But they allowed no such privileges to the Jews.

August 9, 1942-late evening

When we got back into the car of the train (Car 8) and the train started to move, we thought that we were on the way again. But in fifteen minutes, our train came to a stop. Three trucks loaded with Jews approached our train, and the Germans loaded them into the first two cars of our train. It was close enough for us to hear the screams of the children, the wailings and moaning of the women. There were shots fired frequently. Oh! Those screams and cries! And the dogs-there were so many of them. It was mass confusion, and I became aware that we, too, were prisoners and that there was absolutely no way to escape as Mama had planned to do when we got to Kiev.

August 10, 1942

We are leaving the Ukraine now, and the train is moving fast. I will never forget the sight of the last sunset as we were leaving Kiev. The sun looked like a huge ball of red and orange fire, and it was moving down slowly against the horizon at the end of the endless fields. Almost it was as though the sun were saying, "Farewell, my dear-we shall never meet on this soil again!" As I stood there near the door of our train car, I kept looking at the sun until it had completely disappeared. Then I suddenly felt very sad and lonely. It was a "farewell" that made me feel that a part of me had died. Many sunsets and sunrises were thereafter, but never was one so beautiful as the sunset that I saw at Kiev.

"MANY ... WERE THEREAFTER" In some places it is difficult to distinguish what Nonna might have written during or just after the war from what she added later to her transcript. In this chapter, Nonna directly translates her diaries almost exclusively, though this comment reflects her backward look at this story from a late-twentieth-century point of view.

Now I know that we are heading into Poland, and Mama is beginning to make plans for us to escape when we make the first stop in Poland. The next stop is for a meal. We will crawl under the car and wait for everyone to get loaded, and we will get out quickly and run toward the wooded area. Mama is planning.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The secret HOLOCAUST DIARIES by Nonna Bannister Copyright © 2009 by NLB Partners. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface XI

Introduction XV

Prologue XXI

Train to Agony

Chapter 1 Boarding the Train 3

Chapter 2 Baby Sarah 7

Life Before the War

Chapter 3 Family Background 15

Chapter 4 Mama's Family 23

Chapter 5 Educating Anna 27

Chapter 6 Move to Taganrog 31

Chapter 7 Move to Rostov-on-Don 37

Chapter 8 A Day in the Park 41

Chapter 9 The Depression in Russia: Stalin's Power 45

Chapter 10 Winter Vacation with Babushka at the Dacha 49

Chapter 11 Our Journey by Train 53

Chapter 12 Homecoming Welcome 59

Chapter 13 Our Fun Time Begins 65

Chapter 14 Christmas Church Service 71

Chapter 15 Christmas Day: 1932 79

Chapter 16 Reflections on Childhood 87

Chapter 17 Back to Reality: 1933 91

Chapter 18 Troubled Times: 1933-34 97

Chapter 19 Changing Times: 1934-35 101

Chapter 20 Wine-Tasting Time 105

Chapter 21 Times of Uncertainty: 1937 109

Chapter 22 Remembrances 115

Chapter 23 Germany Attacks Russia 121

Chapter 24 Preparations for the Invasion 127

Chapter 25 Our World Begins to Crumble 133

Chapter 26 Papa Is Found in Hiding 137

Chapter 27 My Last Minutes with Papa 145

Chapter 28 Papa's Burial 151

Chapter 29 Life without Papa 155

Chapter 30 Surviving the German Occupation of Konstantinowka 163

The Agony Continues

Chapter 31 August 1942 175

Chapter 32 The End of the Line 183

Chapter 33 Identification Patches 189

Chapter 34 Labor Camp, Our First Assignment: 1942 193

Chapter 35 The Break: Spring 1943 203

Chapter 36 Loss of Mama: September 1943 211

Chapter 37 Survival to the End 223

Chapter 38 Last Message from Mama 233

Chapter 39 Searching for Mama: Merxhausen Hospital 243

New Life

Chapter 40 The Final Arrangements 249

"October 1989: Americans" 254

Afterword Nonna Bannister 255

Appendix A Life with Nonna 257

Appendix B "Is This It? Is This All?" 263

Appendix C Documents 267

Appendix D Genealogy 275

Chronology 277

Glossary of Names and Places 289

About the Author 293

Acknowledgments 297

About the Editors 299

Editorial Reviews

Russian refugee Bannister (1927–2004) rarely spoke about her brutal experiences under the regimes of Stalin and Hitler, not even to the American she married after the war. In this memoir, she reveals how a privileged childhood in the 1920s and '30s gave way to horror and loss in the 1940s. Although the sound quality of this production is poor (lots of rustling papers), Rebecca Gallagher does reasonably well with the multiple languages and wisely avoids attempting to replicate European accents. What is irritating, however, is the constant interruption in the form of unnecessary editor's notes, which make the narrative choppy and disjointed. More helpful is the seventh disc, which contains an interview with Bannister's husband and son, a precious audio reminiscence from Nonna herself, recorded in 1993, and abundant PDF materials, including maps, photographs and genealogical data. A Tyndale hardcover. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Bannister, the proud daughter of Russian nobility, endured German forced labor camps, the loss of family and friends, and other experiences more commonly associated with the persecution of Jews and other minorities during World War II. Here, more than half a century later, she shares her story through self-translated diary entries and accounts of her family history. The diary text is greatly enhanced by the numerous editorial comments, which provide context, supplemental information, and some chronological orientation. Rebecca Gallagher (Why I Jumped) adeptly transitions between the diary and editorial text. Though this is a fascinating work, Bannister's Christian proselytizing can be annoying. Recommended for any adult interested in Holocaust materials; too graphic for kids. [Audio clip available through www.oasisaudio.com.—Ed.]—I. Pour-El, Ames Jewish Congregation, IA

Library Journal