BSU 1.

2
Name
Sana Faisal
Class
8
Section
Safari
Date
25th September, 2020

Instructions: Read excerpts from Zlata’s diary and Anne Franke’s diary below and answer
questions that follow.

Excerpts from Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo

Background: Zlata Filipovic was born on 3 December 1980. She lived in Sarajevo before the Bosnian
war started. During the war, Zlata kept a diary from 1991 to 1993. She also gave a name to her diary,
Mimmy. Zlata and her family survived the war and escaped to Paris in 1993, where they stayed for a
year. The family has settled down in Dublin, Ireland.

Wednesday, May 27, 1992

Dear Mimmy,

SLAUGHTER!  MASSACRE!  HORRORs!  CRIME!  BLOOD!  SCREAMS!  TEARS!  DESPAIR!

That’s what Vaso Miskin Street looks like today.  Two shells exploded in the street and one in the
market.  Mommy was nearby at the time.  She ran to Grandma and Granddad’s.  Daddy and I were
beside ourselves because she hadn’t come home.  I saw some of it on TV but I still can’t believe what I
actually saw.  It’s unbelievable.  I’ve got a lump in my throat and a knot in my tummy.  HORRIBLE.

They’re taking the wounded to the hospital.  It’s a madhouse.  We kept going to the window hoping to
see Mommy, but she wasn’t’ back.  They released a list of dead and wounded. Daddy and I were
tearing our hair out.  We didn’t know what had happed to her. Was she alive? At 4:00, Daddy decided
to go and check the hospital.  He got dressed, and I got ready to go to the Bobars’, so as not to stay at
home alone.  I looked out the window one more time and….I SAW MOMMY RUNNING ACROSS
THE BRIDGE.  As she came into the house she started shaking and crying.  Through her tears she told
us how she had seen dismembered bodies.  All the neighbors came because they had been afraid for
her.  Thank God, Mommy is with us. Thank God.

A HORRIBLE DAY.  UNFORGETTABLE.  HORRIBLE!  HORRIBLE!

Your Zlata

Monday, June 29, 1992

That’s my life! The life of an innocent eleven-year-old schoolgirl!! A schoolgirl without school,
without the fun and excitement of school. A child without games, without friends, without the sun,
without birds, without nature, without fruit, without chocolate or sweets, with just a little powdered
milk. In short, a child without a childhood. A wartime child. I now realize that I am really living
through a war, I am witnessing an ugly, disgusting war. I and thousands of other children in this town
that is being destroyed, that is crying, weeping, seeking help, but getting none. God, will this ever stop,
will I ever be a schoolgirl again, will I ever enjoy my childhood again? I once heard that childhood is
the most wonderful time of your life. And it is. I loved it, and now an ugly war is taking it all away
from me.

Thursday, November 19, 1992

I keep wanting to explain these stupid politics to myself, because it seems to me that politics caused
this war, making it our everyday reality. War has crossed out the day and replaced it with horror, and
now horrors are unfolding instead of days. It looks to me as though these politics mean Serbs, Croats
and Muslims. But they are all people. They are all the same. They look like people, there’s no
difference. They all have arms, legs and heads, they walk and talk, but now there’s something that
wants to make them different.

Monday, December 28, 1992

...I look over at Mommy and Daddy. ... Somehow they look even sadder to me in the light of the oil
lamp. ... God, what is this war doing to my parents? They don’t look like my old Mommy and Daddy
anymore. Will this ever stop? Will our suffering stop so that my parents can be what they used to be
cheerful, smiling, nice-looking?
Background: The following extracts are taken from the diary of Anne Frank between 1942 and 1944,
when she lived in hiding in Amsterdam with her family. The Franks were discovered, arrested and
transported to Auschwitz on August 4th 1944.

Excerpts from: Anne Frank. The Diary of a Young Girl

August 21st 1942:

“Now our Secret Annex has truly become secret. Because so many houses are being searched for
hidden bicycles, Mr. Kugler thought it would be better to have a bookcase built in front of the
entrance to our hiding place. It swings out on its hinges and opens like a door. Mr. Voskuijl did
the carpentry work. (Mr. Voskuijl has been told that the seven of us are in hiding, and he’s been
most helpful.) Now whenever we want to go downstairs we have to duck and then jump. After the
first three days we were all walking around with bumps on our foreheads from banging our heads
against the low doorway. Then Peter cushioned it by nailing a towel stuffed with wood shavings
to the doorframe. Let’s see if it helps!”

October 9th 1942:

“Today I have nothing but dismal and depressing news to report. Our many Jewish friends and
acquaintances are being taken away in droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and
transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they’re sending
all the Jews. Miep told us about someone who’d managed to escape from there. It must be terrible
in Westerbork. The people get almost nothing to eat, much less to drink, as water is available only
one hour a day, and there’s only one toilet and sink for several thousand people. Men and women
sleep in the same room, and women and children often have their heads shaved. Escape is almost
impossible; many people look Jewish, and they’re branded by their shorn heads. If it’s that bad in
Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are
sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they’re
being gassed. Perhaps that’s the quickest way to die. I feel terrible. Miep’s accounts of these
horrors are so heartrending… Fine specimens of humanity, those Germans, and to think I’m
actually one of them! No, that’s not true, Hitler took away our nationality long ago. And besides,
there are no greater enemies on earth than the Germans and Jews.”

Tuesday, 22 December 1942

Oh, I'm becoming so sensible! We've got to be reasonable about everything we do here; studying,
listening, holding our tongues, helping others, being kind, making compromises and I don't know
what else! I'm afraid my common sense, which was in short supply to begin with, will be used up
too quickly and I won't have any left by the time the war is over.

Wednesday, 13 January 1943

Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being
dragged out of their homes. They're allowed to take only a rucksack and a little cash with them, and
even then, they're robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women and
children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.
Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone. The Christians in Holland
are also living in fear because their sons are being sent to Germany. Everyone is scared. Every night
hundreds of planes pass over Holland on their way to German cities, to sow their bombs on German
soil. Every hour hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of people are being killed in Russia and Africa.
No one can keep out of the conflict, the entire world is at war, and even though the Allies are doing
better, the end is nowhere in sight.

1. What seems to be the genre, audience and purpose of the diary entries? Explain the key features of
diary writing. What kind of language and vocabulary is used?

The diaries are written out of situations the authors are facing. They are in depression and express their
difficult times to their Diary which is in the Hitler era. Personal emotions and experiences are
mentioned. The vocabulary is not formal. It is written that what are the current life situations and
hopelessness is displayed.

2. Compare and contrast Zlata’s and Anne Franke’s diaries. Apart from the nature of content, remember
to compare and contrast the writing style, tone, individual expression and choice of language.

Similarities Differences

They both are written in a depressing situation.
The situations are explained in both the diaries.
They both seem to be hopeless.
They both are terrified and show their fright in the
diaries.
Zlata’s diary is more exaggerated and contains
much hyperbole however Anne’s diary is a bit
formal and does not explain too many feelings.
Zlata has given a name to her diary ‘Mummy’ to
be more informal and natural but Anne Frank’s
Both of them are from the Hitler era. diary does not have a name.
The diries are written with a gap of months and Zlata’s entries are more descriptive and long.
occasionally. Anne’s some entries are short and contain details
precisely.