A diary that was not allowed to speak in full

Written in 1947, Modrzewska’s wartime diary offers an early account of hiding, survival and everyday life under occupation. Its later censorship, documented by Jacek Leociak, also reveals how personal testimonies of the Holocaust could themselves become subject to political and institutional control.

Modrzewska’s diary is one of the earliest records of her wartime experience. It was written in 1947, only a few years after the events it describes. It was therefore not a recollection written decades later, but an attempt to record her experience soon after the end of the war. Modrzewska submitted the diary to the Central Jewish Historical Commission.

The diary has a particular history. Fragments were not published until 1959 and 1960, in three consecutive issues of the Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute. The text was censored, however. The interventions went far beyond the removal of individual sentences. Entire sections concerning the convent, Modrzewska’s relationship with the nuns and her critical assessment of their behaviour were removed. Passages concerning antisemitism and the experiences of Jews during the occupation were also subject to censorship.

The diary presents hiding not as a single dramatic event, but as months of everyday activities: working, waiting, finding money, looking for another place to stay and adapting to circumstances over which Modrzewska had very limited control.

The diary does not portray her as a passive person hiding from the Holocaust. It shows a woman who worked, made decisions, negotiated her circumstances, observed the people around her and tried to retain her independence even when her possibilities were severely restricted.

Source: Jacek Leociak, “Cenzor na straży Kościoła. Ocenzurowany pamiętnik Krystyny Modrzewskiej”, Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, no. 5, 2009, pp. 371–393.