Overview

Petr Ginz was a Czech 'Mischling' who was sent to Theresienstadt work camp in 1942, aged 13. Two years later he was sent to his death in Auschwitz. His recently-discovered diaries make for mesmerizing and poignant reading. In 1941, Petr Ginz was a young teenager living in Prague with his parents and sister. Adventurous, artistic and optimistic, he wrote poems and novels and edited a children's magazine inside the work camp at Theresienstadt. Originally written in his special code-language, Petr's diaries described daily life for the Ginz family and documented the introduction of anti-Jewish laws from a young adult's point of view - pithy and unsentimental. The writing stopped in 1942 when Petr received his summons, but the books survived in a Prague attic. They recently came to light in extraordinary circumstances and, they were published in the CzechRepublic in 2005 to a storm of publicity. Edited by his sister, Chava, and including background material and beautiful reproductions of Petr's artwork, this book encapsulates the soul and wisdom of a child caught in an adults' war.

Full Product Details

9781843545545

Table of Contents

Reviews

'While the diary in your hands is a resoundingly good book - by just about every imaginable definition - what it stands in opposition to isn't evil, but speechlessness.' - Jonathan Safran Foer, from his Introduction to The Diary of Petr Ginz 'Petr's [diary] offers an unsentimental perspective on his changing world, and one that fits his personality: half scientist, half reporter and all, still, little boy... Petr acts as a child historian, and this is where the book derives much of its haunting power.' - Ashley Parker, New York Times 'Inspiring.' - Paul Bailey, Independent 'Hugely moving.' - Financial Times 'Impossible to read without tears.' - Glasgow Herald

Heartbreaking... A book that may well be as important a diary of the Holocaust as Anne Frank's. * Tablet * Impossible to read without tears. * Glasgow Herald * Hugely moving. * Financial Times * Inspiring. -- Paul Bailey * Independent * Petr's [diary] offers an unsentimental perspective on his changing world, and one that fits his personality: half scientist, half reporter and all, still, little boy... Petr acts as a child historian, and this is where the book derives much of its haunting power. -- Ashley Parker * New York Times *

Author Information

Petr Ginz died in 1944, aged 16. His sister, Chava Pressburger, who introduces the diary, now lives in Israel.

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