Ariana Spiegel / Elisabeth Bellak (F / Poland, 1930), Holocaust survivor
Ariana Spiegel / Elisabeth Bellak (F / Poland, 1930), Holocaust survivor
Renia Spiegel (F / Poland, 1924-1942), Holocaust victim
- KEYWORDS : Przemysl Ghetto
Biography
Ariana Spiegel (now Elizabeth Bellak) was born in 1930 in Stawki, Poland. A prodigy child, she was named by the press "Polish Shirley Temple." At 8 she performed on stage of "Cyrulik Warszawski Theater" in Warsaw playing piano, singing and reciting poems by Tuwin and Brzechwa. She also appeared in the movies, among others in "Gehenna" by Michał Waszyński.
When war broke out, Ariana and her older sister Renia were visiting their grandparents in the town of Przemyśl. Renia was killed in Przemyśl in 1942, but Ariana survived and made her way back to Warsaw along with a friend’s father. There, Ariana was baptized with a new name—Elzbieta—and sent to play a real-life acting role as a Catholic girl at a convent school.
After the war, she left Poland in 1944 and resided in New York City. She became “Elizabeth,” and started a career as a schoolteacher.
Her sister, Renia Spiegel (1924-1942), wrote a diary between the ages of 15 and 18, while confined in the Przemysl Ghetto.