Janina's Notebooks

Janina Hescheles was only twelve years old in 1943, when she ran away from Janowska Camp, a Polish death camp. In the weeks following her escape, she described her experience in her notebooks. It remains one of the rare testimonies written by a child during the Shoah. These notebooks, hidden until the end of the war, were published in 1946 before sinking into oblivion. They were rediscovered in Ukraine in 2011. For their author, her family and several historians around the world, this marked the beginning of an adventure that echoes current events. It has also been an opportunity for Janina – who lives in Israel – to highlight the struggle for peace she has been leading for over forty years.