Kristina Dzagoeva, 13 years old, was taken hostage with her mother Ludmila and her 10 year old sister, Zera. Kristina and her mother survived but Zera was killed. Kristina kept her diary for the entire three days, describing 52 hours of horror. These are a few excerpts from Kristina's diary, published by German magazine Bild and the Russian website www.utro.ru

Day 1 - On September 1, we all were standing in a big circle surrounding school yard. After only 5 minutes, we heard the first shooting. I remember the screams of the women near me, “Somebody is attacking school”. When we were sitting with our parents in gymnasium, people in masks took away our hand bags, cell phones. They took earings from our ears and crosses from our necks. First graders and even babies were amongst the hostages in the gymnasium. As they took us into gymnasium, they started to hang explosives. There were also bombs in the boxes, which they put on the chairs near us. They put strings from wall to wall and hung mines there as well. All together, there were 12 mines. The first day was OK. We were allowed to drink and allowed to go to the washroom for a short period of time

Day 2 - They gave us some water, but it became more difficult to stand up and ask to go to the washroom. They told us that anyone who screamed would be shot on the spot. They took men away and shot them one by one. They shot everyone who passed by them. Then Aushev came and said “we will save you”. Babies were released. Then the heavy rain started. We did not sleep all night long, we just sat.

Day 3 - My little sister Zera asked my mother all the time: “When will our President come to save all of us. I cannot take it any more, I am hungry and thirsty”. Since the President never came to the school, they killed my little sister. Now it's only mother, father and me.

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