""You must understand that I did not become a resistance fighter, a smuggler of Jews, a defier of the SS and the Nazis all at once. One's first ste...
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Sep 28, 2011
Laura
rated it: 
"There was a bird flushed up from the wheat fields, disappearing in a blur of wings against the sun, and then a gunshot and it fell to the earth. But it was not a bird. It was not a bird, and it was not in a wheat field, but you can't understand what it was yet."
When I understood what the bird was, it was one of the most chilling things that I have ever read.
This is the story of a Catholic girl in Poland. In 1939 when Poland is invaded, she is 16 years old and t More...
When I understood what the bird was, it was one of the most chilling things that I have ever read.
This is the story of a Catholic girl in Poland. In 1939 when Poland is invaded, she is 16 years old and t More...
Sep 28, 2011
MsBrie
rated it: 
In My Hands in one of those books that you read and you can't get it out of your mind. This is the first novel I've read in quite some time that left me staying up all night until the darkness of sleep enveloped me.
Irene's story is both an amazing adventure and an heroic tale of a woman who saved the lives of others by risking her own. It almost seems unbelievable that the things that happened to Irene could actually happen to one person. The entire book is filled with adventure an More...
Irene's story is both an amazing adventure and an heroic tale of a woman who saved the lives of others by risking her own. It almost seems unbelievable that the things that happened to Irene could actually happen to one person. The entire book is filled with adventure an More...
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Sep 28, 2011
Emily
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This is the first Holocaust memoir I had read from a Polish point of view, and I was truly captivated. I have never read a story about one person having so much good fortune and bad luck all at the same time, it was almost like it was straight out of Hollywood. The things she was subjected to do, the things she risked and her uncompromising need to do what was right despite the consequences makes it nearly impossible to set this book down. I would lay awake at night, anticipating what was going
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Dec 30, 2008
Becky
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I did not ask myself, Should I do this? But, How will I do this? Every step of my childhood had brought me to this crossroad; I must take the right path, or I would no longer be myself. You must understand that I did not become a resistance fighter, a smuggler of Jews, a defier of the SS and the Nazis, all at once. One's first steps are always small: I had begun by hiding food under a fence. Now I was making plans to... (142-143)
In My Hands is nonfiction--a memoir--and it's a powerful More...
In My Hands is nonfiction--a memoir--and it's a powerful More...
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Jan 20, 2012
Nitya
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This was a book I couldn't put down, and a quick read. Irene Gut was 16 when Germany invaded Poland, and she was away from home studying to be a nurse. The Russians also invaded Poland at that time, and she was in Russian occupied territory. In the chaos and bombing she fled to the woods with a group of people who turned out to be rebels, and she joined them. On a mission one night she was captured, beaten and raped by Russian soldiers. As a prisoner in the hospital she escapes, tried to make h
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Nov 08, 2011
Jenny
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Can you imagine living your life, doing your own thing, just like any other day... when suddenly, you lose everything you’ve ever cared about in an instant? And before you can even take it all in, the fate of ten lives were put into your hands? Because that is exactly what happened to Irene Gut, a young, Polish, girl who had been deported when Adolf Hitler declared war and took over her homeland. “In My Hands,” tells a story about Irene’s journey through life when she lost her family and home.
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Oct 28, 2011
James
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An exciting memoir of a young Polish Catholic who found herself hiding from the Russian occupiers of eastern Poland at the first part of the war in Poland, she then crosses into the German occupied zone of the General Government, and then after all of Poland and much of western USSR is overrun by the Nazi forces, she is sent to work for a German Army Major in the former eastern Polish city of Tarnopol, where she risks her life and also that of the major's (which he did not find out about until a
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Oct 20, 2011
Kathy
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Jun 09, 2011
Christina
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By Irene opdyke total pages:304
In my hands by Irene opdyke is a book that takes place during the holocaust. it is a true story and the author is writing about her life and experiences during the holocaust. At this point in time, Irene is 16 years old and is a very hardworking girl that wants to become a nurse when she grows up. She has already begun training and is looking forward to a future persuing this career. When the nazis invaded poland where Irene was born and grew More...
In my hands by Irene opdyke is a book that takes place during the holocaust. it is a true story and the author is writing about her life and experiences during the holocaust. At this point in time, Irene is 16 years old and is a very hardworking girl that wants to become a nurse when she grows up. She has already begun training and is looking forward to a future persuing this career. When the nazis invaded poland where Irene was born and grew More...
May 04, 2011
Anna
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Irene was seventeen when World War II started in 1939. The story starts when Irene, the oldest of five sisters, is captured by a German “łapanka." Irene was taken to an area closer to the German-Soviet front. She was forced to work in a munitions factory and soon enough she was moved into a German officer's house to work as his maid. Irene dared to challenge the evil of the Germans, so she began hiding Jewish workers, one at a time, into unimaginable places in the officer's house. She hid t
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Dec 27, 2009
Leeanna
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In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer, by Irene Gut Opdyke
"In My Hands" starts with the author writing to the reader that if she tried to tell you what really happened during the war, told you everything at once, you wouldn't understand it. She includes an image that you won't comprehend until later in the book, the image of a bird falling, a bird that is not a bird. And as you come to understand what the bird really is, your heart will break, and you will know just More...
"In My Hands" starts with the author writing to the reader that if she tried to tell you what really happened during the war, told you everything at once, you wouldn't understand it. She includes an image that you won't comprehend until later in the book, the image of a bird falling, a bird that is not a bird. And as you come to understand what the bird really is, your heart will break, and you will know just More...
Jun 29, 2009
Richard
rated it:
I got to this memoir after my daughter recently saw and raved about the NY play ('Irena's Vow') based on the book.
'In My Hands' was written by a 23 year old Polish a nursing student after surviving six years of separation from her family, rapes by Russian soldiers and several years of servitude to German officers.
But it is not another Holocaust book. Or rather, it's a different kind of a Holocaust book. It's the story of an adolescent who decides that what's happening to More...
'In My Hands' was written by a 23 year old Polish a nursing student after surviving six years of separation from her family, rapes by Russian soldiers and several years of servitude to German officers.
But it is not another Holocaust book. Or rather, it's a different kind of a Holocaust book. It's the story of an adolescent who decides that what's happening to More...
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Apr 12, 2009
Samantha
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Around two weeks ago, I learned from my friend that she had two tickets to go see a new broadway play called "Irena's Vow." I heard that this show was about the Holocaust and had initial thoughts that the play would just be another depressing story about the Holocaust, but I was completely wrong. After the lights went down and came up at the end for the curtain call, I was amazed by the story and portrayal of the polish catholic girl, Irena Gut Opdyke. In the back of the theater, Irena
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Nov 18, 2010
Kristin
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Irene Gut was only 17 years old when she
was separated from her family. She volunteered to help with the war effort as a student nurse. When her homeland was invaded she, along with others in her unit, were captured by the Russians. She was raped and brutalized by the soldiers. She is forced to work for the Germans, eventually running an officer's household.
Witnessing the horrid conditions in a ghetto, she begins to help Jews. First, she leaves bits of food by a fenc More...
was separated from her family. She volunteered to help with the war effort as a student nurse. When her homeland was invaded she, along with others in her unit, were captured by the Russians. She was raped and brutalized by the soldiers. She is forced to work for the Germans, eventually running an officer's household.
Witnessing the horrid conditions in a ghetto, she begins to help Jews. First, she leaves bits of food by a fenc More...
Sep 27, 2009
Awallens
rated it:
When World War II began, Irene Gutowna was a 17-year-old Polish nursing student. Six years later, she writes in this inspiring memoir, "I felt a million
years old." In the intervening time she was separated from her family, raped by Russian soldiers, and forced to work in a hotel serving German officers.
Sickened by the suffering inflicted on the local Jews, Irene began leaving food under the walls of the ghetto. Soon she was scheming to protect the Jewish
workers she su More...
years old." In the intervening time she was separated from her family, raped by Russian soldiers, and forced to work in a hotel serving German officers.
Sickened by the suffering inflicted on the local Jews, Irene began leaving food under the walls of the ghetto. Soon she was scheming to protect the Jewish
workers she su More...
Sep 28, 2011
Jessica
rated it:
This is a sad book. All books about the Holocaust are. Vivid descriptions of what WWII was like in Poland can never be uplifting. The worst in humanity, and it's in all of us. Even this lovely rescuer talked about wanting to kill the Germans and Russians she suffered so much from. I think it was a wonderful book to read, if for nothing more than a reminder. All that jazz about not repeating things we remember. Anyway, it was still pretty depressing to me.
Jun 03, 2010
Autumn
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Fascinating account of a Polish woman's experiences during World War II. Eye-opening to have a Polish Christian woman’s point-of-view. Fine explanation of the of the Polish people and their country’s history, and the determined example of resistance fighters during the war. Irene also describes the effects the war had on families, even after the war, which not all stories give details of.
Through the horrors Irene experienced with the Germans and the Russians, she still kept her faith More...
Through the horrors Irene experienced with the Germans and the Russians, she still kept her faith More...
Aug 05, 2011
Abby
rated it:
What an incredible story. It's hard to believe that this story is one of thousands - some written, some unwritten. I honestly didn't want to put this book down - it's well written and really helps you see how beautiful life was in Poland for most people before the war, and how one day was normal and the next day everything they knew had changed. I tried to put myself in their position over and over again and I still can't imagine how difficult life was for them. My heart was broken time and
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(2 people liked it)
May 21, 2011
Josiah
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Author Jennifer Armstrong helps Irene Gut Opdyke write her thrilling autobiography, focusing on Irene's experiences during World War II in Poland. Irene was a normal girl who loved her family and wanted to become a nurse when the Hitler invaded her country and turned everything upside down. Irene experienced personal tragedies even while it slowly dawned on her that other people, such as the Jews, were not surviving much worse violence. As a God-fearing young woman, Irene made one choice after a
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Jan 25, 2012
Travis
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Irene Gut was a catholic girl from western Poland and she didn’t start out with a goal to save people’s lives and end up as a resistance fighter. She did one right thing and it led to another. She helped 1 0 jewish people hid in the basement of the Nazi officer’s home. Her life changed a lot when she went to nursing school. She traveled with Poland soldiers and a group of nurses and ended up getting captured by the Russians. The Russian soldiers beat her, raped her, and left her for dead in the
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Oct 08, 2009
Becca (booknerdbecca.com)
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This is a stunning, heart breaking/mending story full of tragedy and triumph and more tragedy. Irene Gut is a hero among heathens and her strength at 17 is more so than that of grown men with guns.
This is a story about a young Polish girl whose world is utterly destroyed by the Russian and German invasion and splitting of Poland in the 1930s. The story follows her through being brutally attacked by Russian soldiers, being commandered by the German Army and her incredible bravery in saving More...
This is a story about a young Polish girl whose world is utterly destroyed by the Russian and German invasion and splitting of Poland in the 1930s. The story follows her through being brutally attacked by Russian soldiers, being commandered by the German Army and her incredible bravery in saving More...
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Aug 01, 2009
Dee
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Throughout this story, my heart ached for this young Pole who, at a very young age, had to learn the horrors of war. It was an eye-opener for me. I knew that the Jews were pursecuted in WWII, but I hadn't known what the non-Jewish Polish went through. To the Nazi's and SS men, Polish were considered only barely more acceptable than the Jewish people. Many, many Poles were slaughtered with the invasion of their country from the Russians on one side and the Germans on the other. This is the s
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Jun 22, 2010
Wanda
rated it:
Not sure what to say about this book. It was a young adult book and I read it because it concerned the WW II experiences of the author, Irene Gut Opdyke a young nurse who became a resistance fighter and a smuggler of Jews. It should have been a very inspiring story. Irene is leading an idealized life with her parents and sisters when the war breaks out and she finds herself, first in the clutches of the Soviets, and then of the Germans.
Perhaps the best part of this story was the idea tha More...
Perhaps the best part of this story was the idea tha More...
Aug 09, 2009
Nicole
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We are all familiar with the millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis in WWII. But there were a few Jews, too few but at least some, saved by small and large efforts of non-Jews. Ann Franks sad story is the best known followed by the ten Boon sisters in Amsterdam in 'The Hiding Place'. This story is from eastern Poland about a young Roman Catholic woman whose faith and courage helped many Jews escape the ghetto. But that wasn't all - she also becomes a 'partisan' fighting 1st the Nazis and then th
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Jun 10, 2011
Valerie
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Again, I am amazed at the courage of those that lived thru the Holocaust. Irene Opdyke was only 16 when the Holocaust hit her hometown. She not only lived in the forest with individuals she didn't even know (without her family), for a time, but was raped by German Officers. During the Holocaust she stool food for ghetto jews from a German Officers club, she smuggled jews out of work camps, and hid a dozen fugitives in the home of a Nazi major for whom she worked as a housekeeper!
As More...
As More...
Feb 24, 2009
Melanie
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In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke
Irene, from Poland, ended up in the middle of World War II. Since she was a student nurse, she decided to travel with the soldiers to take help care of the wounded. She was captured, but lived under fairly good conditions. She used every advantage she had to help the Jews who were suffering. It started with hiding food under the fence surrounding the Jews, where the Jews would then come get it after dark. Later, she was More...
Irene, from Poland, ended up in the middle of World War II. Since she was a student nurse, she decided to travel with the soldiers to take help care of the wounded. She was captured, but lived under fairly good conditions. She used every advantage she had to help the Jews who were suffering. It started with hiding food under the fence surrounding the Jews, where the Jews would then come get it after dark. Later, she was More...
Jul 14, 2009
Ro
rated it:
Kurt Vonnegut has defined a saint as a person "who behave[s:] decently in a strikingly indecent society." By his definition, Irene Gut Opdyke is a saint. I think there are more than a few people who would agree.
I had the pleasure of seeing an adaptation of this on Broadway, and got incredibly lucky: the author's daughter was in the house that night and hosted a Q&A session after the show. It was during this session that she revealed a few remarkable stories the book does More...
I had the pleasure of seeing an adaptation of this on Broadway, and got incredibly lucky: the author's daughter was in the house that night and hosted a Q&A session after the show. It was during this session that she revealed a few remarkable stories the book does More...
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Dec 16, 2011
MAP
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Irene Opdyke (nee Gut) tells her story as a Polish rescuer and resistance fighter during World War II. Her writing is simple (it was told by Opdyke to Jennifer Armstrong, who then wrote it down in the first person) and yet the story is much more powerful because of the simplicity of speech. What I found most interesting was Irene's struggle with her religious beliefs and faith during these times -- again, the simplicity of her writing makes the complexity of her moral choices and moral question
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Dec 30, 2011
Kelsey
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This book is empowering for women, and it's inspirational. It is a tale of the horrid Holocaust from a unique perspective. It's a true story, and it's truly amazing.
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Jan 12, 2012
Erica
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This is one of the best books ever written on the vein of sustaining hope for humanity despite the horror of our crimes against each other. Irena is a Polish Catholic girl who manages to live through terrible crimes and warfare during the Nazi invasion of her beloved homeland. Forced to work for the Nazis, she saves many of her Jewish friends, going to extremes no author could have invented. She has led the most amazing and compassionate life of anyone I know of, and still, like Anne Frank, b
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