Seventy-five years ago, Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland was liberated by the Russian Army. The days that followed were filled with chaos, as liberators grappled with how to care for those still alive in the camp. There were warehouses full of stolen goods, like shoes, glasses, and other personal items. And somewhere, in all of the turmoil, there was a small school book: a diary belonging to Rywka Lipsyzc.
“Seventy-five years ago, a diary of Rywka Lipszyc is being discovered in the ruins of Auschwitz. So, the question is what happened with Rywka, how the diary ended up in Auschwitz, what happened with her after Auschwitz," says Jakub Nowakowski, the director of the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland, which created an exhibit all about the diary.
The exhibit, called "The Girl In The Diary: Searching for Rywka from the Łódź Ghetto," is an exploration of life in Łódź and the many ways people learned to live during the Holocaust. The exhibit is currently at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, marking its U.S. debut.
“[The exhibit] is about finding out who Rywka was, in terms of her identity, and getting an inkling of that through her writings in the diary,” Molly Dubin, the curator of the exhibit at the museum.
