Exhibition and Film About Renia Spiegel – A Touching Story of a Young Poet
As part of this year's 11th House of Tolerance Festival 2025, we will organize various events throughout the year, starting with Educational Mornings for schools, in collaboration with the embassy of Poland in Slovenia. The dates for the Educational Mornings for schools, where the screening of The Diary of Renia Spiegel will be followed by a discussion on the topics of the Holocaust, human rights, and tolerance, are:
- Tuesday, January 21st, 2025 at 09.00 - Opening of the exhibition
- Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025 at 13.00
- Thursday, January 23rd, 2025 at 09.00
After the screenings we are organizing exhibition tour about Renia Spiegel’s diary.
Special guest for the opening of the exhibition will be Anna Wencel, curator form the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow.
Renia Spiegel, also known as the "Polish Anne Frank," was a 15-year-old Jewish girl who kept an personal diary during World War II. Her writings reflect the emotional world of a teenager—ranging from love, longing for her mother, and everyday teenage adventures to the horrors of the Holocaust. Renia's diary, first published in English translation in 2019, quickly became an inspiration for numerous artistic and educational projects. In 2022, the diary was also published in Slovenian, providing Slovenian readers with insight into the life of this young Polish girl and her tragic experiences.
The Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków has created an exhibition based on Renia's diary, offering visitors a deeper understanding of her life and legacy. The exhibition includes photographs and quotes from the diary, shedding light on Renia's gentle nature and the difficult circumstances of her life, contextual information about her life and family, and an integration of film footage that combines classic museum elements with audiovisual content.
In 2023, a series of eight short animated films was created based on the diary, forming a cohesive multimedia project. This project, a collaboration between the Galicia Jewish Museum and the Foundation for Education and Art, with the support of the U.S. General Consulate in Kraków, uses a combination of animation, acting, archival footage, and interviews. Notably, it features the testimony of Elizabeth Bellak, Renia's surviving younger sister, who shares her memories of her sister's tragic fate. The film does not attempt to create a hyper-realistic story, but rather emphasizes Renia's emotions, fears, and dreams through imagination and symbolism.
The exhibition and film carry an important message: love, hope, and empathy are universal values that must be protected. Renia's diary, filled with her thoughtful entries and poetry, reminds visitors of the fragility of human life and the horrors that hatred and discrimination can bring. Through the use of contemporary artistic approaches, the exhibition and film bring Renia's story closer to a wider audience, ensuring that her voice continues to resonate today.
Renia's diary, written between 1939 and 1942, remained hidden from the public eye for many decades. After her tragic death in July 1942, the diary was kept by her boyfriend Zygmunt Schwarzer, who survived several concentration camps. After the war, he handed it over to Renia's mother in the United States in 1950, but it was too painful for her to read the written thoughts of her murdered daughter. The diary was then passed to Renia's sister Elizabeth Bellak, who also could not bring herself to read it and stored it in a safe deposit box. There it remained for more than 70 years until it was discovered in 2012 by Elizabeth's daughter, Alexandra Renata Bellak, who had it translated into English, ensuring that Renia's story became accessible to the world for the first time. It was published in 2019 and quickly drew attention as an extraordinary testimony of the life of a young Polish-Jewish girl during World War II, becoming an inspiration for various artistic and educational projects.
The Galicia Jewish Museum, with its project, has created a space where history intertwines with art, touching the hearts of visitors worldwide.
After every Educational Morning we are organizing a quiz for students. Two copies of Slovenian translation of The Diary of Renia Spiegel will be awarded.
