Book compared to Anne Frank's diaries to be published

  • Video report by ITV News correspondent Paul Davies

A diary of a teenage girl written in Poland during World War II is to be published.

The book is being compared to Anne Frank's diaries. Renia's Diary: A Young Girl's Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust recounts the story of Renia Spiegel who was killed by the Nazis in 1942.

The Polish youngster started writing the diaries when she was 15, three years before she was shot by the Nazis.

In the years between, Renia documented life in Poland, which was one of bombings, being forced into hiding and the treatment of the Jewish families by the Nazis.

There was plenty of solemn moments within the pages but also the retelling of her first kiss and falling in love with Zygmunt Schwarzer.

An excerpt from the book.

Renia aspired to be a writer. Her entry on 7 June 1942 read: "Wherever I look, there is bloodshed. Such terrible pogroms. There is killing, murdering. God Almighty, for the umpteenth time I humble myself in front of you, help us, save us! Lord God, let us live, I beg You, I want to live! I've experienced so little of life. I don't want to die. I'm scared of death. It's all so stupid, so petty, so unimportant, so small. Today I'm worried about being ugly; tomorrow I might stop thinking forever."

The Nazi's killed Renia after she escaped from a ghetto and was found hiding in an attic.

Zygmunt kept the diary, writing the final chapter of the book after Renia's death, and eventually returning it to her family years after the war had ended.

Renia's sister Elizabeth and mother Róża were found in New York by Zygmunt who had gone on to become a doctor in the US army.

In 1950, the book was put into a bank vault but Elizabeth's daughter had it translated in 2012 in order to learn more about her aunt and now it will be published for all to read.