Rare Holocaust-Era Teen Diary Revealed for First Time Will Further Holocaust Education around the Globe

SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The JFCS Holocaust Center in partnership with Lehrhaus Judaica today announced the publication of The Diary of Rywka Lipszyc. After more than 70 years in obscurity, the diary of a teenage girl that was found at Auschwitz in 1945 will be revealed for the first time to the public on March 10, 2014. Accompanied by rich background materials and edited by National Jewish Book Award recipient Alexandra Zapruder, the book is destined to become an important source of inspiration for students of the Holocaust around the world.

In 1940, the Nazis forced young Rywka Lipszyc (pronounced Rif-ka Lip-shitz) and her family into what would become Poland's notorious Lodz Ghetto. After witnessing the death of her parents and deportation of her younger siblings, Rywka, at the age of 14, began to record her thoughts and dreams in a precious diary.

Discovery of this rare manuscript prompted exhaustive research into what actually happened to Rywka. While it is known that Rywka survived the war, collaborative efforts of archivists and historians around the world have not uncovered the mystery of her ultimate fate. Rywka's surviving cousins with whom she lived in the Lodz Ghetto currently reside in Israel, and a representative from her family will be present at the book launch.

The book launch event for The Diary of Rywka Lipszyc will take place on Monday, March 10, 4:30 – 6:00 pm, at Jewish Family and Children's Services, 2150 Post St., San Francisco.

"At age 14, Rywka wrote with great feeling and searing insight about her life in the Lodz Ghetto," said Dr. Anita Friedman, Executive Director of Jewish Family and Children's Services. "Rywka and her teenaged cousins lived in deplorable conditions before being deported to Auschwitz. They endured forced labor, a death march, and extreme suffering. She was a young survivor, and her diary serves as an important educational resource that high school students relate to and that Holocaust educators across the globe are using to inspire moral courage and activism in future generations."

In conjunction with the book, web-based learning tools are also being developed to assist educators and students throughout the world in learning more about the Holocaust. On March 10, 2014, an unedited version of The Diary of Rywka Lipszyc will be available online for scholars, educators, and students, as well as the Polish transcription and the scanned copy of the original manuscript.

"Lehrhaus is honored to be the partner of the JFCS Holocaust Center in translating, editing, and publishing the Diary of Rywka Lipszyc," said Fred Rosenbaum, Founding Director of Lehrhaus Judaica and the author of a chapter in the book. "The diary is an invaluable historical document because it was written in the Lodz Ghetto—the largest and most oppressive in all of Europe—between October 1943 and April 1944—during a period not covered by any other young diarist and a time of severe disease and hunger in the ghetto. She was also one of the relatively few religious teenage Holocaust diarists, and her entire journal is infused with an abiding faith in God. Judaism was her comfort and her shield as she came of age amidst unspeakable suffering and cruelty."

To pre-order The Diary of Rywka Lipszyc, contact [email protected].

To learn more about the JFCS Holocaust Center: www.jfcs.org/holocaustcenter
To learn more about Lehrhaus Judaica: www.lehrhaus.org

Media Contacts:
Andrea Burnett, 650-207-0917, [email protected]
Robert Miller, 415-449-1294, [email protected]
Christine Coleman, 415-449-1222, [email protected] 

SOURCE Jewish Family and Children's Services