Ana Novac (June 21, 1924/1929 – March 31, 2010) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n-born writer. She was born Zimra Harsányi in Dej in northern

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

and grew up in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

(''Nagyvárad''). Novac attended a Jewish school in

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. When

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

took control of Hungary in 1944, she was sent to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. She also spent time in Kraków-Płaszów and other smaller camps and was able to maintain a journal during her time in the camps. She was eventually liberated at

Chrastava Chrastava (; ) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,300 inhabitants. Administrative division Chrastava consists of eight municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in May 1945. However, her parents and younger brother did not survive. Novac returned to Romania. She moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

during the mid-1960s, later settling in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Her journal was published as a book which was translated into a number of languages including French, German, Italian, Dutch and Hungarian. Its English title was ''The Beautiful Days of My Youth'' (1997). She also published a number of other books and plays. She died in Paris.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novac, Ana 1929 births 2010 deaths People from Dej Jewish Romanian writers Jewish Hungarian writers Romanian women writers Jewish concentration camp survivors