This diary was written by Julius Feldman. Julius was held in Krakow Ghetto and Plaszow Concentration Camp. The diary ends mid-sentence, Julius did not survive the Holocaust, and would have been around nineteen years old when he was murdered. 

Julius was born on 24 December 1923, in Krakow, Poland. The family lived on Kingi Street, in the Podgorze district of Krakow. In 1943, Julius began writing a diary-cum-memoir which details experiences from his life before and during the Holocaust, and the Second World War. Although beginning to write in the 1940s, Julius records events from August 1939 and recalls the Nazi invasion of Poland. He was the only Jewish student in his class at school, and recalls the effects of increasing anti-Jewish measures and persecution of Jewish people. The writing records events in Krakow Ghetto, and provides a poignant and important record of Julius and others’ experiences during the Holocaust. His account was written over two months, during the final weeks of Krakow Ghetto’s existence and during his incarceration in Plaszow Concentration Camp. Julius was risking his life by keeping a record of events, and kept it carefully concealed. The diary ends mid-sentence on 11 April 1943, it is not clear what happened at this time. Julius was murdered during the Holocaust, by unknown means on an unknown date. His writings were found after the end of the Second World War, hidden in the wall of the building where Julius had been a forced labourer.

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What could have been Julius Feldman’s motivation behind keeping a diary?

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See Julius Feldman's Identity Card

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