Irene Gut Opdyke
Paperback | Pages: 304 pages Rating: 4.2 | 12721 Users | 967 Reviews
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| Title | : | In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer |
| Author | : | Irene Gut Opdyke |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 304 pages |
| Published | : | September 14th 2004 by Laurel Leaf (first published June 1st 1992) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. World War II. Holocaust. History. Autobiography. Memoir. War. Biography |
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"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."Through this intimate and compelling memoir, we are witness to the growth of a hero. Irene Gut was just a girl when the war began: seventeen, a Polish patriot, a student nurse, a good Catholic girl. As the war progressed, the soldiers of two countries stripped her of all she loved -- her family, her home, her innocence -- but the degradations only strengthened her will.
She began to fight back. Irene was forced to work for the German Army, but her blond hair, her blue eyes, and her youth bought her the relatively safe job of waitress in an officers' dining room. She would use this Aryan mask as both a shield and a sword: She picked up snatches of conversation along with the Nazis' dirty dishes and passed the information to Jews in the ghetto. She raided the German Warenhaus for food and blankets. She smuggled people from the work camp into the forest. And, when she was made the housekeeper of a Nazi major, she successfully hid twelve Jews in the basement of his home until the Germans' defeat.
This young woman was determined to deliver her friends from evil. It was as simple and as impossible as that.
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| Original Title: | In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer |
| ISBN: | 0553494112 (ISBN13: 9780553494112) |
| Edition Language: | English |
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Ratings: 4.2 From 12721 Users | 967 ReviewsJudge Out Of Books In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer
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"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
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 doesn't touch on...As
"...but it was not a bird..." Irene OpdykeThough I hadn't planned to write a review for this book, it seems fitting to make special mention of it in light of current events. A few days ago White Nationalists celebrated the election of Donald Trump with cheers of "Hail Trump!" accompanied by Nazi salutes in Washington, D.C. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/a...Irene is recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by the state of Israel for saving the lives of 12 Jews during the Holocaust. This
"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
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
This is an amazing memoir of Irene Gut's life during WWII in occupied Poland. Published in 1999, I do not know if it was a best seller then but it should have been. She has many roles and uses her many talents to gain status with the occupiers of her native land. Too she rises in stature in the eyes of the underground Jewish Resistance. Her passions are stirred by the atrocities she sees and the wonderful people she is helping. Post-war as the Russians seek her for her work in the resistance the
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