Rutka Laskier (1929–1943)

Rutka Laskier was born in the Danzig Free State (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) to prosperous Jewish parents, Dwojra and Jakub Laskier. In 1939, after the city was annexed by Nazi Germany,
Rutka and her family fled to the southern Polish city of Będzin, where her grandparents lived. In 1942, they were forced by the Nazis into a Jewish ghetto. From January to April 1943, Rutka, aged 14, kept a personal diary, chronicling her thoughts and experiences. In August of that year, she was deported along with her mother and brother to the death camp at Auschwitz, where she was killed. Her diary remained in the hands of a non-Jewish friend, Stanislava Shapinska, for more than 60 years. The manuscript, authenticated by Holocaust scholars and survivors, was first published in Polish in early 2006. It was published in English in 2008 as Rutka's Notebook: A Voice from the Holocaust.