This is the diary of Petr (Peter) Ginz, a Jewish teenager living in Prague, Czechoslaviakia during the middle years of WW2.

The diary was fascinating to read. This Kid Petr was interested in so many different subjects, especially science, just like me!! He was also a rather good artist as well. Many of his drawings and artworks have survived as well as some of his diaries.

Petr was sent to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in 1942 when he was 14 years old. His younger sister Eva arrived at Theresienstadt in 1944 when she also turned 14. Petr was shipped off to Auschwitz some 2 months after Eva's arrival.

Eva Ginzova was liberated from Theresienstadt in 1945. She is now called Chava Pressburger.

The diary entries were interesting - well those that said more then just, went to school, went home, or nothing special.

The only complaint I have is that the list of people and relatives whom Petr mentions is not at the front of the diary. Instead this list is found at the back. So I went through the diary not knowing who everyone was in relation to Petr.

That lack of names (at the front) drops this down to 4 stars. ( )

"Quanto tempo è passato da quando per l'ultima volta vidi il sole tramontare dietro Petrin. Praga baciata da uno sguardo pieno di lacrime, mentre si velava con l'ombra della sera... Praga, favola di pietra..." (fonte: Google Books)

אוטוביוגרפיה של איסלמופובית סודנית-הולנדית. מדכא, מייאש, ומאלץ מחשבה. החלק הראשון, על חייה בארצות האיסלאם מדכא ומעורר אצלי זעם אנטי דתי חריף. החלק השני על קליטתה בהולנד מרתק ומאיר באור חדש את פער התרבויות, החלק השלישי על פעילותה הפוליטית נגד האיסלאם מעורר חשד. ( )

This has the same flaws and virtues as Anne Frank's diary, or any Holocaust diary for that matter. Petr's story is poignant, especially given his intelligence and artistic/literary talent, and the reader inevitably wonders what sort of contributions he would have made to the world if he hadn't been murdered in Auschwitz at the age of 16. His essays and drawings show great promise. The list of characters at the end of the story, and their fates (most were lost to the Holocaust) can bring tears to your eyes.

But Petr's diary itself, the bulk of the book, is quite banal and boring with entries like "Home all this morning, then this afternoon at school." Just a few spare sentences of the day's activities. It was obviously not meant to be read by anyone else, and it shows very little of the spirit of the boy behind the pen. This book would have been better off as a memoir, or a biography of Petr with excerpts from his diary, rather than the whole thing which is a slog to get through.

Another problem: I don't know whether this was done intentionally or not, but the book fails to show at ALL just what an unpleasant place Petr was being sent to. They make Terezin/Theresienstadt, the concentration camp he was deported to once he turned 14, sound like an arts camp or boarding school. When in fact it may not have been Auschwitz, but it was a terrible place to live with rampant overcrowding and starvation and overwork and disease, and many people died there. I don't understand why the book mislead the reader in that way. ( )

Nu de Tweede Wereldoorlog verder weg komt, lijkt het belang van alles wat daar direct aan herinnert alleen maar toe te nemen. En dagboeken vormen daarbij een bijzondere categorie, zeker die van Joodse kinderen.
Een paar jaar geleden dook het dagboek van Petr Ginz op, een jongen uit Tsjechië.
Lees verder.... ( )