The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

• Front Matter
  
• • Endorsements
    
  • Special Copyright Notice
    
  • Dedication
    
  • Preface
    
  • Introduction
    
  • Prologue
    
• Train to Agony
  
• • 1: Boarding the Train
    
  • 2: Baby Sarah
    
• Life Before the War
  
• • 3: Family Background
    
  • 4: Mama’s Family
    
  • 5: Educating Anna
    
  • 6: Move to Taganrog
    
  • 7: Move to Rostov-on-Don
    
  • 8: A Day in the Park
    
  • 9: The Depression in Russia
    
  • 10: Winter Vacation with Babushka at the Dacha
    
  • 11: Our Journey by Train
    
  • 12: Homecoming Welcome
    
  • 13: Our Fun Time Begins
    
  • 14: Christmas Church Service
    
  • 15: Christmas Day
    
  • 16: Reflections on Childhood
    
  • 17: Back to Reality
    
  • 18: Troubled Times
    
  • 19: Changing Times
    
  • 20: Wine-Tasting Time
    
  • 21: Times of Uncertainty
    
  • 22: Remembrances
    
  • 23: Germany Attacks Russia
    
  • 24: Preparations for the Invasion
    
  • 25: Our World Begins to Crumble
    
  • 26: Papa Is Found in Hiding
    
  • 27: My Last Minutes with Papa
    
  • 28: Papa’s Burial
    
  • 29: Life without Papa
    
  • 30: Surviving the German Occupation of Konstantinowka
    
• The Agony Continues
  
• • 31: August 1942
    
  • 32: The End of the Line
    
  • 33: Identification Patches
    
  • 34: Labor Camp, Our First Assignment
    
  • 35: The Break
    
  • 36: Loss of Mama
    
  • 37: Survival to the End
    
  • 38: Last Message from Mama
    
  • 39: Searching for Mama
    
• New Life
  
• • 40: The Final Arrangements
    
  • Afterword: Did It Really Happen?
    
  • Appendix A: Life with Nonna
    
  • Appendix B: “Is This It? Is This All?”
    
  • Appendix C: Documents
    
  • Appendix D: Genealogy of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister
    
  • Chronology
    
  • Glossary of Names and Places
    
  • About the Author
    
  • Acknowledgments
    
  • About the Editors
    

Front Matter

Endorsements

You have only to dip into this astounding memoir to see that the suffering that marked Nonna’s early years was the very thing that God used to shape this remarkable woman. Denise George and Carolyn Tomlin have managed to give Nonna Bannister the same feeling of literary and historical importance that John and Elizabeth Sherrill brough to Corrie ten Boom in
The Hiding Place.
Read it and weep or read it and rejoice, but above all, read it.

Calvin Miller,
Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School.

What a marvelous service has been provided by Denise George and Carolyn Tomlin in bringing to light the untold story of Nonna Bannister! This inspiring volume provides a window into the personal and painful reflections of one of the darkest periods in humna history. Yet readers will be strengthened by reading this most moving and hopeful account of courage, faith, and forgiveness.

David S. Dockery,
President, Union University

This book is absolutely captivating. It is an extraordinary glimpse inside the oppressive nature of Russian Communism and the viciously evil heart of Nazi Germany. But, the revelations of human depravity manifested in horrific acts of brutality and murder notwithstanding, rays of God’s Light appear in the form of a Russian Orthodox grandmother, a frail Jewish boy, and a group of Christlike German Catholic nuns and priests. These diaries are at once heartbreaking, hopeful, and unforgettable.

Lyle W. Dorset,
Billy Graham Professor of Evangelicalism, Beeson Divinity School

THE SECRET HOLOCAUST DIARIES

by

NONNA BANNISTER

with Denise George

and Carolyn Tomlin

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Carol Stream, Illinois

Visit Tyndale’s exciting Web site at www.tyndale.com

TYNDALE
and Tyndale’s quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

Copyright © 2009 by NLB Partners. All rights reserved.

Cover and interior photos are used by permission from the Nonna Bannister family collection.

Published in association with the literary agency of WordServe Literary Group, Inc., 10152 Knoll Circle, Highlands Ranch, CO 80130.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bannister, Nonna, 1927-2004.

The secret Holocaust diaries : the untold story of Nonna Bannister / by Nonna Bannister ; with Carolyn Tomlin and Denise George.

p. cm.

ISBN: 978-1-4143-2546-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4143-3022-8 (MS Reader)

ISBN: 978-1-4143-3023-5 (Mobipocket)

ISBN: 978-1-4143-3024-2 (Palm)

ISBN: 978-1-4143-3025-9 (Sony)

1. Bannister, Nonna, 1927-2004. 2. World war, 1939-1945—Women—Ukraine—Kostiantynivka (Donetska oblast)—Biography. 3. World war, 1939-1945—Children—Ukraine—Kostiantynivka (Donetska oblast)—Biography. 4. World War, 1939-1945— Prisoners and prisons, German. 5. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)—Ukraine. 6. Kostiantynivka (Donetska oblast, Ukraine)—Biography. I. Tomlin, Carolyn Ross.

II. George, Denise. III. Title.

DK508.835.B36A3 2009

940.53'18092—dc22

[B]     2008050099

Special Copyright Notice

The text of this book is an eBook file intended for one reader only. It may be used by that reader on computers and devices that he or she owns and uses. It may not be transmitted in whole or part to others except as stated above.

Up to 500 words of this work may be quoted without written permission of publisher, provided it is not part of a compilation of works nor more than 5 percent of the book or work in which it is being quoted. The full title, author's name, and copyright line shall be included. No more than 500 words of this work may be posted on a web site or sent electronically to other users. In all uses of quoted material from this book, the full copyright line shall appear in a readable type size where the text appears. The author's name shall not be used in the title of a web site or in the advertising of the site. The author's name may not be used on the cover of any other book in which a portion of this material is quoted without written permission of Tyndale House Publishers.

Quotes in excess of 500 words, use of the text as part of a compilation, use of text that is greater than 5 percent of the book in which it will be quoted, or other permission requests shall be directed in writing to Tyndale House Publishers, Permissions Dept. 351 Executive Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188.

Dedication

circa 1990

I would like to dedicate this book to the memory of all those who perished during the Holocaust in World War II, who are no longer here to tell their stories, and also to those who survived the horrors of it all but lost their families and loved ones.

I thank God for the little Jewish boy named Nathan, who died so that I could live.

I want to express my gratitude to the Catholic priests and nuns who were brave enough to hide me from the Gestapo after they had taken my mother away.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to my loving and caring husband, Henry, who has given me his support and his understanding and caring for me—for sharing my feelings with me and helping me throughout our forty-six years of marriage to cope with the many sad memories of the past. I feel that God sent him to me because He knew what I needed to survive the many hard times. Henry took care of me while I struggled through very bad health, and without him and his love and support, it would have been extremely difficult to write this book and to cope with so many horrible memories.

I thank God for giving me three beautiful children—two sons: W. H. (Hank) Jr. and John D., and a beautiful daughter, Elizabeth J. They also have given me a lot of support and love, which I will cherish until I die.