(I wrote this back in primary school so there are many errors. I had such little knowledge as well so many details are incorrect or off.)
(this is only some of the story, the rest was handwritten and I lost it)
Part one
December 20 1937
Hello my name is Manuela Har-Zahav. I am a 9 year old girl. I live with my mother, father and brother. My aunt from my mothers side has given me this diary well she gave Obadian, my brother a teddy bear. I must go, mother is calling me for supper.
December 25 1937
Hello it is me Manuela. I have been very busy because school is now out on holiday. Today is a holiday called Christmas that most kids at my school celebrate. Mother says we don’t celebrate Christmas because we are jewish. She also said Christmas is a Christian holiday, not jewish. Sometimes I wish I were a Christian so I could fit in with the other children. Well anyways goodbye.
January 2 1938, dear diary
Hello it is me Manuela I have decided to start saying dear diary at the beginning of every entry because that is what my best friend Ursula does. Ursula is lucky because she is a Christian so she gets to celebrate Christmas. Her mother asked if I wanted to join them for Christmas but mother wouldn’t let me. I was so angry with mother that I called her a fat pig! I was then grounded. Bye I need to go to bed now because school is starting tomorrow.
January 3 1938, dear diary
I am so sad. Today me and all the other jewish children were not aloud to attend german school. No more school, I love school though! Not only that along with all of the other jews only rules like how we cant vote or go to parks, pools or theatres, there is a new rule! All jews need to have their passports stamped with the letter j so we cant leave the country! I am to upset to write.
January 15 1938, dear diary
One of9+++ the jewish families that I knew from school has vanished! Nobody has seen them for weeks! There was a mother, a father then two twin boys who were in my class {Ovid and Ofer } then there is their older brother who I think was named Abel or Abdiel and finally they’re little baby sister Raakel. Their surname is Filipowski. I hope they are okay because I always loved to smile at baby Raakel.
February 4 1938, dear diary
Guess what! Mother is pregnant! We will soon have a new baby in our family. I hope it is a girl because one brother is enough. If I haven’t said my brother obadian is my twin. We are the same age and have the same birthday except I am two minutes and seven-teen seconds older. My {our} birthday is April 7 1929 bye I must go to lunch.
February 25 1938, dear diary
Even though I cant go to school anymore I still love to play with my best friend Ursula. Sometimes we will pretend I am a Christian and walk around and talk loudly about Christian things until someone looks at us weird then we run away laughing. I bet you if mother found out she would go crazy! When I think of it mother has been very sensitive recently, father says it is because she is pregnant. Father is calling me so I must go.
March 1 1938, dear diary
I have just finished packing the last of my toys. We are moving in with my aunt and my uncle because father has been fired for being a jew and mother quit her job around the time she became pregnant, she never told us why though, so we don’t have enough money to live in such a grand house. My aunt and uncles house has three bedrooms so they said we could have two of them. That means I will have to share a room with obadian! I must get to bed because we are leaving early tomorrow morning.
March 18 1938, dear diary
We have now settled into our new home with aunt and uncle and everything is going fine. Mother and father have been acting strange and sad for the last few days and I do not know why. I will see what I can find out.
March 22 1938, dear diary
It is worse than I thought. After days of asking, mother finally screamed in my face “ I am not pregnant, the baby died!” mother would not tell me how the baby had died though, as hard as I tried.
April 7 1938, dear diary
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Manuela, happy birthday to me. For my birthday I received no more than a kiss from my mother. We are now to poor to afford anything and are moving out once again. We are moving into a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. Father says don’t complain because it was that or the street.
April 19 1938, dear diary
I am no longer aloud to play with my best friend Ursula. Her parents say they do not want to get in trouble and .have forbidden me from communicating with Ursula in any way. As the days go on we have less and less food. Mother and father are looking thinner by the hour. Me and Obadian can only have one meal a day if we don’t want to live on the street. I hear father calling for me and Obadian.
April 20 1938, dear diary
You will not believe what father asked me and Obadian to do! Steal food! From now on me and Obadian are our families only food source. Father says we are out of money so when the bills come around we will be off to the street.
May 1 1938, dear diary
Today may be the worst day of my life. Two words. Mother. Dead. For the past few weeks me and Obadian have been the food suppliers for our family. Mother has been very week and we didn’t even see her because she just slept all day and night. So father would just bring her food to her. But today father announced that mother was dead. She had been refusing to eat for a while and before he knew it she was gone.
May 8 1938, dear diary
We are packing and by we I mean me and Obadin. Father told us to leave and then the next day he died. He had been selling his share of the food and mothers she hadn’t eaten so he could try and make enough money to pay the bills but he knew he wouldn’t make it so he left us the money. Obadian says he is almost ready. I am already done because I have not much to pack, most of it has been sold. He says he is done. Off we go.
Points: 1442
Reviews: 54
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