In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

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In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 · rating details · 3,523 ratings · 398 reviews

IRENE GUT WAS just 17 in 1939, when the Germans and Russians devoured her native Poland. Just a girl, really. But a girl who saw evil and chose to defy it.

“No matter how many Holocaust stories one has read, this one is a must, for its impact is so powerful.”—School Library Journal, Starred

A Book Sense Top Ten Pick

A Publisher’s Weekly Choice of the Year’s Best Books

A Bookl...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published September 14th 2004 by Laurel Leaf (first published June 1st 1992)

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Dec 30, 2008 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: holocaust

"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 training to be a nurse. Like Poland...more

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Dec 24, 2008 MsBrie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, memoir, political, truth

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 and suspense. I...more

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Jan 08, 2011 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs

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...more

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Dec 30, 2008 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 one. Full...more 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 one. Full of descriptive images you might wish you'd never seen. But it's an important work, a necessary one. Our narrator, Irene Gut, was a Polish girl--a young woman training to be a nurse when the war burst into her life. The conflict between Germany and Russia stripping her of her childhood in more ways than one. Her account of what happened during the war years are powerful and haunting. But there is nothing over-the-top either. It's straightforward, spare, even.

This is her description of the purging of the Poland of Jews (I believe we're speaking of the ghettos.)

The gates were dragged open, and the Jewish prisoners were forced out through a gauntlet, while the guards beat at them with their rifle butts. An old man, tottering with a cane, was not fast enough, and a guard shot him on the spot. In vain, women tried to protect their small children from blows, men tried to shield their old fathers. But every time someone stumbled and fell under the beatings, shots rang out. The street was paved with bodies, and still the Jews were forced to march out over them.
We watched this from our windows in a paralysis of horror. We could do nothing but watch. We could not even pull back from the glass to keep hidden. An old rabbi carrying the Torah stopped to help a young woman with a shrieking toddler, and all three were shot. A graybeard in a faded uniform of the Polish army from the last war limped past the guards, and he, too, was not fast enough. The sun shone down on all of them, and the dust settled in pools of blood.
By this time, the four of us were crying uncontrollably. Helen was on her knees, sobbing in her mother's arms. Janina turned her face away. But I watched, flattening myself against the window. As I pressed against the glass, I saw an officer make a flinging movement with his arm, and something rose up into the sky like a fat bird. With his other hand he aimed his pistol, and the bird plummeted to the ground beside its screaming mother, and the officer shot the mother, too. But it was not a bird. It was not a bird. It was not a bird. (116-117)

This is how she sums it up, "We did not speak of what we had seen. At the time, to speak of it seemed worse than sacrilege: We had witnessed a thing so terrible that it acquired a dreadful holiness. It was a miracle of evil. It was not possible to say with words what we had witnessed, and so we kept it safely guarded until the time we could bring it out, and show it to others, and say, "Behold. This is the worst thing man can do."" (118)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews (less)

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Mar 12, 2013 hamptonenglish10 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-emmett

Lindsey Swain
Ms.Emmett
Academic English
5 April 2013

In My Hands began as one non-Jew’s challenge to any who would deny the Holocaust. Much like The Diary of Anne Frank, it has become a profound document of an individual’s heroism in the face of the greatest evil mankind has known.

In the fall of 1939 the Nazis invaded Irene Gut’s beloved Poland, ending her training as a nurse and thrusting the sixteen-year-old Catholic girl into a world of degradation that somehow gave her the strength to accomplis...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Misha rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked up this book, one because of my love of history and specifically WWII and the time of the Holocaust, but also because of the different perspective it gave. I have read a a lot of Jewish accounts of the Holocaust, but not as many from the rescuer standpoint. Many I'm sure have read The Hiding Place, a definite must read, but I also enjoyed this book about a young Polish woman who rescued/hid about 12 Jews. At the start of the book, which is also at the start of the war, Irene was only 17...more I picked up this book, one because of my love of history and specifically WWII and the time of the Holocaust, but also because of the different perspective it gave. I have read a a lot of Jewish accounts of the Holocaust, but not as many from the rescuer standpoint. Many I'm sure have read The Hiding Place, a definite must read, but I also enjoyed this book about a young Polish woman who rescued/hid about 12 Jews. At the start of the book, which is also at the start of the war, Irene was only 17 and going to nursing school. Her incredible journey and survival at being beaten up (among other things) at the Soviets hands, to escaping and ending up in several positions that afforded her opportunities to help the Jews around her. It is an amazing story of courage, standing up for what's right and ultimately sacrificing whatever she needed to in order to protect and keep the Jews she was hiding a secret.

Some, after reading this book may say, well, I wouldn't have done some of those things she would have, but I'm not so sure. I took a Jewish Holocaust history class from my most favorite professor at BYU and he had proposed the question one time during class, would you compromise your morality in order to save either your own children or other people you were protecting? I don't know what I would do. To watch your children die before your eyes, often a cruel death at the hands of the SS, I think a mother would try and do anything to prevent that. During war time, you have to wonder if the lines are somewhat blurred. If 12 people's lives were at stake and I could save them, what would I do? Would I do what Irene did? Think of all the generations that span from those 12 people. Those 12 people can equal with time 20, 40, 80 and eventually hundreds. By saving 12, Irene was able to then save possibly hundreds. This book was very well written and had me completely engrossed from the beginning. I was so captivated by the book that I even was tempted to read it while driving! I would have loved to discuss this one at a book club! (less)

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Jul 06, 2012 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Engrossing! I read this book in one sitting, because I could not bear to put it down. I'm not easily moved, but Ms. Opdyke's story of life as a young woman in Nazi occupied Poland moved me. I don't easily cry, but I shamelessly cried several times while reading this book.
This is an inspiring tale of courage and resistence in the face of unambiguous evil. It is also the hope-filled story of grace found among the most surprising of individuals: two Soviet physicians consipring to help a young pris...more Engrossing! I read this book in one sitting, because I could not bear to put it down. I'm not easily moved, but Ms. Opdyke's story of life as a young woman in Nazi occupied Poland moved me. I don't easily cry, but I shamelessly cried several times while reading this book.
This is an inspiring tale of courage and resistence in the face of unambiguous evil. It is also the hope-filled story of grace found among the most surprising of individuals: two Soviet physicians consipring to help a young prisoner of war to escape; a Wehrmacht Officer's Club manager blithely feeding slave laborers with luxuries intended for the "master race;" a simple Ukranian priest openly preaching resistence; a Nazi officer sheltering Jews in the basement of his villa!

Above all, this is a story of choices: a story of ordinary people immersed in a living hell, who chose to keep faith with each other, their ideals, their country, and their God.

In a time when too many among us seek to avoid responsibility, here we find the story of a young woman who willingly took responsibility for herself and dozens of others. In a time when politicians conveniently twist "values education" to their own advantage, here we find the story of a woman whose religious and ethical heritage repeatedly demanded the best of her, even under the most dangerous of circumstances. Here we find a heroine on the order of Oscar Schindler or Raul Wallenburg. This life-affirming tale demonstrates that even under the most extreme circumstances, one righteous person can still change the world for the better. For that reason alone, this book is worth reading.

If you have been wounded too often, and have become just a little too cynical about the world, read this book. If you enjoy a thrilling adventure story, laced with romance, read this book. If you want to inspire a child (especially a girl) to greater moral courage, read this book with her. If you wish to remember that glimmers of light shone through the darkness that engulfed the world from 1939 to 1945, read this book.

Read this book.

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Jul 01, 2012 Kristen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow...from the first page, I was hooked. I have read many accounts and novels covering the Holocaust and that time period, but I never have read an account of a Polish woman before. Now I have, and I can say that, in the eyes of the Nazis, the Poles were despised almost as much as the Jews during this time period. I also had forgotten that the boundaries of Poland were changed so many times!! At one point, much of the country is German; at another, it is Russian; at the end of the war, its bound...more Wow...from the first page, I was hooked. I have read many accounts and novels covering the Holocaust and that time period, but I never have read an account of a Polish woman before. Now I have, and I can say that, in the eyes of the Nazis, the Poles were despised almost as much as the Jews during this time period. I also had forgotten that the boundaries of Poland were changed so many times!! At one point, much of the country is German; at another, it is Russian; at the end of the war, its boundaries split definitively, and it became the Poland we know today. Wow. I can't even imagine. Lately, I have been reflecting about how thankful I am to be an American, and this book confirmed it even more.

I marvel at the courage and faith of Irene and so many of these people who fought against Hitler and his regime. If there is anyone I want to model myself after, it would be these stalwart people who care more for freedom and the honor of human life than they do for their own safety. I love the part in the book where Irene says, "I did not ask myself, "should I do this?" but "How will I do this?" Wow. Also, I love that she says the war happened because of many decisions people had made, both good and bad; she had made hers. I have to find the exact quote...it was awesome. But it just made me want to be brave in my own personal matters. Maybe I won't have the opportunity to save lives, but I do have the opportunity now to help others, even myself, realize their potential. Irene didn't let fear stop her. In fact, after she was completed converted to her cause, fear never even touched her. I want to be strong like that.

This story also put into perspective many moral questions that one of my favorite professors would ask the class during the Jews and the Holocaust class I took at BYU (yes, Misha....so true!! I wonder if Dr. Kerry has read this?), and I think it is so interesting to see what is really immoral, and what really is considered the greater sin when different situations arise.

I just love books that really make you think about things and reflect on how you as a person are doing. Am I making a difference? Am I trying to be the best person I can; a person who upholds the morals and principles that I have been raised to honor and protect? This book is haunting and is definitely not a fluffy read, but this novel, along with many others, share the gripping, horrible history of the past. We need to learn it, and most importantly, we need to remember it. (less)

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Mar 19, 2012 Jessie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was mainly the storey that ripped me through this book, the writing was good, some of her words were so perfect... they said mountains with out saying much or sent a clear perfect message that sat with me. Though some of it felt ... clumsy? Not sure the word I'm looking for there. There were some things I actually really liked that I wouldn't normally in a book, like the way she did not indulge in some of the big events or trauma and stuck with some details that seemed less important... it fel...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Nitya rated it 4 of 5 stars

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...more

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Nov 08, 2011 Jenny Nguyen rated it 3 of 5 stars

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.

I...more 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.

I really enjoyed how she wrote this book in first person perspective because it was easy to understand and it made me feel as if I was Irene herself. Her word choice was very vivid and it really made me escape the real world.

"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."

This was my favorite quote from the whole book. The way that it’s written, the image that it brings to your mind...It really made me think twice on what it was like for the people who were trying to escape Hitler’s wrath. Once realizing that it wasn’t a bird, I honestly couldn’t sleep at night. This book really touched my heart because I know that I would never have had the courage that Irene had. She was determined and wanted to make a difference. She believed that if she could protect one Jew, she sure as hell could save nine more.

The audience for “In My Hands,” I think would be for teenage girls, or mainly just for girls. At one point in the story, Irene gets raped by German soldiers. It must’ve been very difficult for her to suffer through that during times that were so harsh. This book is a must read, I think that readers will really enjoy this, whether they are interested in learning about the Holocaust or not. It’s the first book I’ve read about the holocaust coming from the point of view of a Polish survivor, and it most definitely is one of my favorites.
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Oct 28, 2011 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: shoah-ww2-memoirs

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...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 09, 2011 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 11th-grade-advisory

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 up, she was made to...more

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May 04, 2011 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 them i...more

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Dec 27, 2009 Leeanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 what Irene means.

Born...more 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 what Irene means.

Born in 1922, in Poland, Irene had a happy childhood and a normal life. As a young child, she is saved from death by the family dog, and many in her village are convinced this means she has a great and promising life ahead of her. But for a girl in the 1920s, there weren't many adventures available, and drawn to helping people, Irene decided to go to nursing school.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Irene's school was on the border, and she was immediately thrust into the war as a student nurse, then as a member of the Polish resistance. Living in the woods, part of an army without a country, Irene was selected to go on a mission into a nearby town and was captured by a Russian patrol who raped her and left her for dead. That experience alone would be enough to break almost anybody, but not Irene. The rape is merely the first of an indescribable number of hardships she endured during World War II; I often had tears in my eyes while reading this book. Irene lived through several lifetimes during the war, and while I am around the same age as her, I couldn't imagine surviving anything that she went through.

Irene's story is so many things - it is one of hope, one of courage, one of resistance, one of overcoming the odds, one of doing the right thing. A prisoner herself, while working in a German hotel, Irene did all she could to help those around her, including smuggling out food, warnings, and even hiding 12 Jews in a German officer's home.

Once I started "In My Hands," I couldn't put it down. Irene's story captivated me from beginning to end, and as I came to understand the metaphor of the bird that she starts her story with, I agreed with her. There is no way I could have understood all that she wanted to tell me if I didn't know the whole story, if I didn't know everything she endured and fought for. I found myself wanting to tell everyone I could about her story, and it led to a great talk between my father and myself (we're both history nerds).

While "In My Hands" is marketed as a young adult book, I believe it's beneficial for anyone, of any age, to read it and absorb it. Irene was moved to write her story after hearing that some groups claimed the Holocaust was a hoax, and she spoke for 30 years, imbuing a message of hope and tolerance to children across the country. Hands down, this is the best book I've read all year, and I wish I could thank the author.

5/5. (less)

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Jun 29, 2009 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 the Jews is sickening. S...more

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Apr 12, 2009 Samantha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008-2009-advisory-books

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's real da...more 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's real daughters husband was selling the memoir written by the real Irena and I had to buy it. I read the story in a matter of days and was enlightened by Irena's story and her experiences. She was a 14 year old girl at the prime of the Holocaust and found herself working for a German major associated with the Nazi's. She was his housekeeper and had to obey his every command for her own survival in a town where thousands were murdered and sent to concentration camps. He believed that she was German and therefore, she had a steady job working for him. In Irena's previous job, she met a number of Jews working in the basement for the owner of the house and decided to help them escape death and torture. She decided to take them with her to stay underground at the major's house where eventually the 12 Jews were able to escape from the Nazi-ridden town. Irena's courage shined through the text and I was truthfully enlightened by the story. I don't know if I could ever act like Irena and constantly lie to help the Jews remain hidden for almost 2 years. However, from reading this memoir I can now take small aspects of Irena's experiences and learn to help people who are truly in need of the assistance. This woman was incredible and anyone who reads this book and doesn't find her an inspiration is crazy. I enjoyed the technique of point of view the most in this story because the first person aspect of the book made me even more connected to Irena and made me able to continue reading page after page. Also, the vivid detail of Irena's day to day experiences made me feel her pain and want to reach into the text and encourage her to keep going and that she was doing the right thing. I view Irena as a true inspiration and hope that everyone can read (or hear) her story and become more aware of the tales of survival during the Holocaust and know that the holocaust DID happen and that there are people's stories to prove that these horrific events are not fiction. (less)

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Nov 18, 2010 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

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 fence. Then, she expands her aid b...more

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Sep 27, 2009 Awallens rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 supervised at the hotel, and t...more

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Nov 12, 2007 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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.

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Jun 03, 2010 Autumn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-just-for-teens, true-story, world-war-2, discuss-it, think-about-it, inspirations

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 in God and...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Lexi M rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed that this book told a vivid story of a Holocaust rescuer who risked her life to save others. It was a moving story that made you feel what it was like to be living through the Holocaust and have to experience all those tragedies. I didn't like the way it ended. I would have wanted to know more about her life when she went to America to see how she had changed etc. The authors style was a easy to understand style. It held the story together even when moving chapters because she always c...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Abby Welker rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 time...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Neeta rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ww2-and-holocaust, nonfiction, my-absolute-favorites

This is an amazing account of a Christian Polish teenager who is in Nursing school when Poland is attacked by the Germans in WWII. The story reads like a perfectly made movie as she describes the true story of being separated from her family and hiding in the forest from the Germans, her confrontation with the Russians on the eastern border, eventually having to work for the Germans, and her inspiring, heroic actions to save the lives of a few Jewish people. The writing style is great and often...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Denae rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1st-person-narrative, non-fiction

Wow.
I have never felt that war was so ugly and indescribably horrid until I read this book. It's a true account, so it doesn't soften anything, and the reader cannot hold that fantasy that everything will turn out all right. In fact, things do NOT turn out all right. Irene is alive by the end of the war, but little else seems to go well for her. (view spoiler) This book was so unpretentious it shocked me...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Patrick Carroll rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think this paragraph is the most eloquent description of why speaking about the Holocaust was/is so difficult for the survivors. "We did not speak of what we had seen. At the time, to speak of it seemed worse than sacrilege: We had witnessed a thing so terrible that it acquired a dreadful holiness. It was a miracle of evil. It was not possible to say with words what we had witnessed, and so we kept it safely guarded until the time we could bring it out, and show it to others, and say, 'Behold....more

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May 21, 2011 Josiah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiography, christian, history-ad-20th-century, nonfiction-eurpoean

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...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Travis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 12th-grade

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...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Zona rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-in-2009

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 Jewis...more

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History

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Autobiography > Memoir

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History > World War II

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Biography

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War

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Biography Memoir

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Cultural > Poland

6 users

Literature > Jewish

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“In my fantasies, I was always caught up in heroic struggles, and I saw myself saving lives, sacrificing myself for others. I had far loftier ambitions than mere romance.” — 5 people liked it

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title link	preview: In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/494320.In_My_Hands?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320440794l/494320.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/494320.In_My_Hands?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke[/url]

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

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