On 4 February 2026, the book The Girl Who Could Not Hate by Lidia Maksymowicz and Paolo Rodari was published.

This is the story of Lidia Maksymowicz — the testimony of a child who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. At the age of three, she was sent to the camp with her mother, who had been deported for resisting Nazism. For thirteen months, Lidia struggled to survive in the children’s barracks, becoming a victim of Josef Mengele’s medical experiments.

After the liberation of the camp, the girl was rescued by a stranger — an act of humanity amid the total devaluation of life. Having lost her mother, Lidia did not lose hope and later managed to find her. Today, her voice, which they tried to silence, resounds as a warning: memory is the only safeguard against the repetition of catastrophe.

The patron and initiator of the publication was Roberto Faletti, a representative of the association “LaMemoriiaViva” (“Living Memory”) and a devoted friend of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he has consistently supported Ukrainian defenders on the front line and civilians suffering from Russian aggression.
Roberto Faletti dedicates this edition to the 20,000 Ukrainian children deported from Ukraine into the unknown, who today are enduring the horrors of war.

The book was published with the support of the Office “Odesa — UNESCO City of Literature.”

The translation from Italian was carried out by Diana Redko.

The book presentation is scheduled for March 2026.