Past Special Exhibition
The Girl in the Diary
Searching for Rywka from the Łódz Ghetto
ON VIEW JULY 14 - DECEMBER 31, 2022
In I945, a diary was found in the ashes of a destroyed crematorium in the liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp. It was written by a 14-year-old Jewish girl named Rywka Lipszyc and documented her life in the Łódz Ghetto between October 1943 and April 1944.
Rywka’s diary told stories of a young girl who lost her siblings and parents, but never lost hope or her faith. More than 60 years after its discovery, the diary traveled to the United States, where it was translated to English, supplemented with commentaries, and published.
Rywka Lipszyc’s diary, a moving memoir of life and adolescence in the Łódz Ghetto, is the focal point of this exhibition. Selected excerpts of the diary are supplemented by expert commentary from historians, doctors, psychologists, and rabbis. Blended with original artifacts and fleeting candid photographs of others’ lives in the ghetto, these commentaries help us understand the experiences Rywka describes in her diary.
Through historical artifacts and documents, interactive touch screens, documentary videos, and exceptionally rare photographs, The Girl in the Diary explores the story of a young girl’s fight for survival in the Łódz Ghetto and reconstructs what might have happened to Rywka after her deportation to Auschwitz and beyond.
There are no known photographs of Rywka. We do not know the color of her hair or eyes, the way she smiled or laughed. She exists for us only through the words in her diary. The Girl in the Diary is a tribute to the life of a child who will not be forgotten.
An exhibition at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum in cooperation with the Galicia Jewish Museum, Kraków, Poland.
Special Exhibition Programs
Wednesday, September 7 - Salvaged Pages: Young Writers’ Diaries of the Holocaust
Supported by
Betty Jo and David Bell
Exhibition Sponsors
Larry Ginsburg
Shula and Aharon Netzer
Celia and Larry Schoenbrun
Community Partners
Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star
Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas’ Jewish Community Relations Council
Legacy Senior Communities
Southwest Jewish Congress
Temple Shalom
EXPERIENCE THE SPECIAL EXHIBITION VIRTUALLY!
Click below to view The Girl in the Diary.
Carved wooden box handmade and used in the Łódź Ghetto. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Rafal Imbro.
A straw basket made in the Łódź Ghetto. Collection of the Jewish Historical Institute, property of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.
Star of David badge with Jude printed in the center United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Al Mondroe.
Rusted tablespoon recovered from Chełmno killing center. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie.
Rusted, bent metal shoehorn recovered from Chełmno killing center. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie.
Chain stitch sewing machine of the type used in the Łódź Ghetto. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection.
Emblem of a sewing workshop in the Łódź Ghetto Collection of the Jewish Historical Institute, property of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.
Small scissors in two pieces, recovered from Chełmno killing center. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie.
A letter opener from the office of the Ghetto Administration in the Łódź Ghetto. Collection of the Jewish Historical Institute, property of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.
Large, rusted metal key recovered from Chełmno killing center. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie.
A badge worn by the special unit of the Jewish police (Ordnungsdienst) in the Łódź Ghetto. Collection of the Jewish Historical Institute, property of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.
Bent metal fork recovered from Chełmno killing center United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie.
Envelope in which Zinaida Berezovskaya kept Rywka Lipszyc's diary. Jewish Family and Children's Services Holocaust Center of San Francisco.
Copy of Rywka Lipszyc's diary. Jewish Family and Children's Services Holocaust Center of San Francisco.
Brooch with a cut-out design of the fence and Jewish quarters sign made in the Łódź Ghetto. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Malwina “Inka” Gerson Allen.
Baby shoes manufactured by Jewish children working in a shoe workshop in the Łódź Ghetto. Collection of the Jewish Historical Institute, property of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.
Lódź (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto scrip, 10 mark coin. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Leon Ginsburg.
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