April 27, 1941 – Dawid Sierakowiak

The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak 

One of the most extensive and revealing accounts of ghetto “life” during the Holocaust was recorded by a remarkable young man named Dawid Sierakowiak. His diary was recorded in five notebooks, beginning a few months before the war and continuing through April 15th, 1943. By August of that year, he lost his fight against starvation and disease.

At age 17, Dawid was able to return to school, yet in spite of his excitement he knew it could increase his family’s suffering. Between April 18th and 26th, 1941, Dawid wrote several times about the impending resumption of school for students in his area of the ghetto. This was especially exciting because of a rumor that students would also receive meals at school. Food was already very scarce and every little bit would help. The struggle to find nourishment was a constant obsession and affected every other aspect of life. 

On April 27th, Dawid was finally able to report to school.  All the news was not good, though.  Because he was now a student, he was passed over for a job that might have helped to support his family. This confirmed the truth of what he had written earlier in the week. “The inevitability of death by starvation grows more evident.” Dawid would endure for more than two more years, but he could already see what his eventual fate would be. 

Read more about Dawid Sierakowiak.