The Diary of Mary Berg

Mary Berg was just fifteen when she was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. She survived four years of Nazi terror. This is her story.

On her fifteenth birthday, with the German army pouring into Warsaw, Mary Berg began her personal diary. From the siege of Warsaw to the final, brutal suppression of the Ghetto Uprising, she records in vivid detail the plight of the refugees, the life of the nouveau riche, the forced conscription, the deportations, and the heroism and resistance at the forefront of the fight against German oppression. Rescued with her family through an allied prisoner exchange, carefully hidden among her meager possessions were twelve small notebooks. Less than a year later, its war-time publication in America played a key role in making the truth known.

Now published for the first time for a worldwide audience, this is a work remarkable for its authenticity, detail, and poignancy. But it is not only as a factual report on the life and death of a people that this diary ranks with the most important documents of the Second World War – its message is timeless, calling for an end to genocide and hate. This is the personal story of a life-loving young girl’s encounter with unparalleled human suffering, and a uniquely illuminating insight into one of the darkest chapters of history.