The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna's writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the concentration camps and learned the value of human life and the importance of forgiveness. For a half century, a horrible secret lay hidden, locked in a trunk in an attic... Photos, official documents, and scraps of a diary written by a nine-year-old girl... I kept secret my horror stories.I am an old woman now.It is time to tell my story. The Secret Holocaust Diaries is a haunting eyewitness account of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, a remarkable Russian-American woman who had seen and survived the unspeakable evils of the Holocaust as a young girl. For half a century, she kept her story secret while living a normal American life. She locked all her photos, documents, diaries, and dark memories from World War II in a trunk. Late in life, she unlocked the trunk, first for her husband, and now for the rest of the world. Nonna’s story is one of suffering, torture, and death--but also of incredible acts of kindness that show the ultimate triumph of faith and love over despair and evil. The Secret Holocaust Diaries is in part a tragedy, yet it’s also an unforgettable true story about forgiveness, courage, and hope. Born into an aristocratic Russian family, Nonna Lisowskaja fully expected to enjoy a cultured, privileged life. Her family had many advantages at a time when other Russians struggled to buy food. By her sixth birthday, Nonna spoke four languages. She had a good life. But then her life fell apart.The Nazis invaded Russia.And, though her family was not Jewish, she lost everything . . . except a few family photos and scraps of a journal hidden from the Nazis in a small pillow. This is her story.