Polina Zherebtsova's Journal

It tells the story of ethnic relations between Russian and Chechen peoples and of the lives of civilians during the war.

There is no evil in the book – just the life of civilians who fell into life in war[2]The published in Russia book resulted in a hatred campaign against the author, and she was forced to flee to Finland, where Polina Zherebtsova asked for political asylum.

[1] Polina Zherebtsova, a documentarian, poet and author of the famous diaries, covering her childhood, adolescence and youth that witnessed three Chechen wars.

She has been awarded the Janusz Korczak international prize in Jerusalem in two categories (narrative and documentary prose).

Polina's maternal grandfather Zherebtsov Anatoly Pavlovich, with whom she had formed a friendship, worked in Grozny for more than 25 years as a TV journalist-cameraman.

On 25 March 1994, days after she turned nine, Polina started writing in a diary in which she recorded what was happening around her.

In 2006 she was awarded the Janusz Korczak international prize in Jerusalem in two categories (narrative and documentary prose).