The Little Girl Who Could Not Cry

Description

'My testimony is that hating doesn't help. Hate only brings more hate. Love, on the other hand, has the power to redeem.' When Lidia Maksymowicz was just a young girl, her partisan family went into hiding in the forest of Belorussia. It was there that they were arrested and taken to Auschwitz. Lidia was branded 70072, sent to the infamous 'children's block' and subjected to the experiments of Dr Josef Mengele. Having survived Auschwitz, Lidia was adopted and grew up in the industrial town of Oswiecim. She never gave up trying to find her family. In 1962, seventeen years after the liberation, she discovered that her parents were still alive and that her mother had never stopped searching for her. In Moscow, early-1960s, they were finally reunited. Lidia has since made it her mission to share her story. In 2021, she made headlines around the world when Pope Francis kissed the tattoo that, once a symbol of separation, led her back to her mother. The Little Girl Who Could Not Cry is a moving memoir of survival but, above all, the prevailing power of love and hope.

Lidia Maksymowicz has shared her story in the Auschwitz museum, which she visits every year. It was also the focus of a documentary by the Italian Association, 'La Memoria Viva'. Paolo Rodari was the first journalist to interview Lidia Maksymowicz in Rome. He is a Vatican correspondent for the Italian newspaper La Republica and the author of several bestselling books.