Read The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister for Free Online Page B

she is strict. She makes me stay at the piano (sometimes two hours) until I play Tales of Hoffmann perfectly. I’d rather skip this one and play #6 from the book, ‘Barcarolla.’”
These, along with Anna’s freedom to pursue creative outlets, were luxuries under the Stalinist system.
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    Papa was busy with his work and hobbies, but he also had many people visiting him (quite a few foreigners). He would take them into the library, where there were shelves against two walls; the shelves were loaded with books all the way to the tall ceiling. Papa would sit and talk to these visitors in a quiet voice—no one knew what they were talking about.
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PAPA’S VISITORS • Foreign visitors serve as another indication of the good position Yevgeny held. Nonna remembered one “friend” in particular and wrote this about him in her childhood diary: “Papa’s friend came today. I really like him. He tells funny stories in German and Polish. He makes me laugh by making ‘frog’ faces. I like to play chess with him. I always win. Maybe he lets me win? I think he does!”
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    In the corner of the library, there was a small room, latched at all times by a small hook. It was a small darkroom where Papa spent a lot of time developing negatives. The room had a small, red light that provided light for Papa to see. This room was “off limits” for my brother and me, but being curious, I opened the door one day while Papa was working. He became angry, and called for Mama to “come get this child.” I saw a negative, which was on glass. When I reached to touch it, I cut my finger and got some of the fluid into the cut. I started to cry because it hurt and also because I was bleeding. I never opened that door again.
    Mama was busy with her music and art, and she was quite active in the theater. Mama and Papa went out a lot at night, leaving Anatoly and me with the nanny. I have often wondered where they would go—to the theater perhaps. Times were hard and things continued to change as the world slipped into the Great Depression. However, my family was comfortable and so full of closeness and love, and I was at a young age where everything was so new and exciting to me. I knew that I was happy.
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NONNA’S MEMORIES • Throughout the war years, tucked into the secret pocket of the black-and-white-striped ticking pillow, Nonna saved photographs of her mother, Anna. Some showed a newly married Anna performing on the local theater stage, dressed in elaborate costumes. The smile on Anna’s face revealed her love for acting, singing, dancing, and theater.
Papa also “got into the act.” Some of Nonna’s treasured photographs showed Papa clowning in funny wigs and silly costumes and brought out a joyful, playful side of Papa. Despite Russia’s turmoil, Anna, Nonna, Papa, and Anatoly were able to deeply enjoy life and each other in those early years together.
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7: Move to Rostov-on-Don
     
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Editors’ Note: Amid governmental turmoil, neighbors disappearing for no known reason, and the pain and suffering of friends and family, Nonna’s world began to change drastically over the next few years.
Three years before her birth, on January 21, 1924, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died. Joseph Stalin, the “Man of Steel,” succeeded Lenin as leader of Russia, eventually expelling rival Leon Trotsky from Russia. Stalin began a brutal and murderous regime, ruling Russia with an iron fist by eliminating and executing his enemies, enforcing harsh new laws, and bringing cruel hardships on his people.
By contrast, Nonna’s family seems to have been spared much of their fellow countrymen’s suffering—including persecution of former Ukrainian elites, such as Nonna’s grandfather, a Cossack guard, had been.
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    It must have been in early fall of 1929 when Papa accepted a job as an interpreter with the largest and newest machinery factory in the city of Rostov-on-Don. We were moving into a very large apartment near the factory, and the