In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer Review

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer is the interesting and moving story of Irene Gut Opdyke, a young Polish woman who risked her own life to save Jews during the Nazi occupation. Irene hid 16 Jews in the basement of the house of an aged German officer whom she served as housekeeper. When the officer discovered the subterfuge, he demanded Irene be his mistress in return for the lives of those who were depending on her.

When Irene visited the local Catholic priest to assist her with this moral dilemma, his advise was to turn the Jews over to the Nazi authorities rather than commit adultery; they were, after all, only Jews, he insisted. Irene instead chose to accept the officer's proposal.

Gut Opdyke relates that not all Poles were interested in helping their Jewish neighbors. Anti-Semitism was pervasive in Poland prior to the war and continued during the occupation. The Polish Catholic Church was notoriously anti-Semitic. Although tens of thousands of Catholic Poles were involved in assisting Jews, most were indifferent to the genocide while many viewed it favorably. Rescuers were wary of their Catholic neighbors and quite often kept their activities to themselves.

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer is a tribute, not only to Irene Gut Opdyke, but to all the selfless Holocaust rescuers who risked all for their fellow human beings.

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer Feature

• ISBN13: 9780553494112
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer Overview

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 Booklist Editors Choice

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer Specifications

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 then hiding them in the lavish villa where she served as housekeeper to a German major. When he discovered them in the house, Gutowna became his mistress to protect her friends--later escaping him to join the Polish partisans during the Germans' retreat. The author presents her extraordinary heroism as the inevitable result of small steps taken over time, but her readers will not agree as they consume this thrilling adventure story, which also happens to be a drama of moral choice and courage. Although adults will find Irene's tale moving, it is appropriately published as a young adult book. Her experiences while still in her teens remind adolescents everywhere that their actions count, that the power to make a difference is in their hands. --Wendy Smith

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