Irene Gut Opdyke - In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

Irene Opdyke Jennifer Armstrong

Laurel Leaf (2008)

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Amazon.com Review

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

From Publishers Weekly

Even among WWII memoirsAa genre studded with extraordinary storiesAthis autobiography looms large, a work of exceptional substance and style. Opdyke, born in 1922 to a Polish Catholic family, was a 17-year-old nursing student when Germany invaded her country in 1939. She spent a year tending to the ragtag remnants of a Polish military unit, hiding out in the forest with them; was captured and raped by Russians; was forced to work in a Russian military hospital; escaped and lived under a false identity in a village near Kiev; and was recaptured by the Russians. But her most remarkable adventures were still to come. Back in her homeland, she, like so many Poles, was made to serve the German army, and she eventually became a waitress in an officers' dining hall. She made good use of her positionArisking her life, she helped Jews in the ghetto by passing along vital information, smuggling in food and helping them escape to the forest. When she was made the housekeeper of a German major, she used his villa to hide 12 JewsAand, at enormous personal cost, kept them safe throughout the war. In translating Opdyke's experiences to memoir (see Children's Books, June 14), Armstrong and Opdyke demonstrate an almost uncanny power to place readers in the young Irene's shoes. Even as the authors handily distill the complexities of the military and political conditions of wartime Poland, they present Irene as simultaneously strong and vulnerableAa likable flesh-and-blood woman rather than a saint. Telling details, eloquent in their understatement, render Irene's shock at German atrocities and the gradually built foundation of her heroic resistance. Metaphors weave in and out, simultaneously providing a narrative structure and offering insight into Irene's experiences. Readers will be rivetedAand no one can fail to be inspired by Opdyke's courage. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Praise for
In My Hands Powerful and life-afrming, this is the kind of exciting memoir that marks a reader forever. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) Even among WWII memoirsa genre studded with extraordinary storiesthis autobiography looms large, a work of exceptional substance and style. Publishers Weekly, Starred The narrative pours out in a hurried rush it effectively captures the bedlam and turmoil that is war, where every decision could be one's last. Booklist, Starred No matter how many Holocaust stories one has read, this one is a must, for its impact is so powerful. School Library Journal, Starred Opdyke's startling account is not to be missed. No reader can emerge unaffected by this profound firsthand narrative of the Holocaust. The Riverbank Review Opdyke uses simple direct language to demystify the concept of heroism and depict courage as a matter of basic human decency well within the capabilities of ordinary humans. The Washington Post Book World The power of Irene's true story keeps the reader spellbound. The Horn Book Magazine Opdyke's memoir reads like a wildly escalating adventure, hair-raising and suspenseful: a young woman with no power dares to save Jews right under the eyes of the Nazis, with a quick lie, a flirtatious smile, and an arrogant manner sometimes all that stands between her and death. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books A gripping and graphic memoir about brave deeds and unspeakable evil. San Francisco Chronicle Few memoirs of the Holocaust tell in such vivid detail what it was like for a non-Jew to risk life day after day, year after year, to save the lives of people Hitler was bound to exterminate. No one reading In My Hands will ever forget the devotion to humanity this young Polish Catholic girl lived, and almost died by. Milton Meltzer, author of Rescue: The Story of How Gentiles Saved Jews in the Holocaust A story of extraordinary moral courage. The Miami Herald In My Hands doesn't disappoint for an instant. It is unfailingly eloquentand it is the quality that makes another book on an oft-explored subject worth reading by anyone who loves transcendent emotional truth. The Mercury News (San Jose) Readers will not soon forget Irene Gut Opdyke. Which is as it should be. Family Life ALSO AVAILABLE FROM DELL LAUREL-LEAF BOOKS SHATTERED: STORIES OF CHILDREN AND WAR
Edited by Jennifer Armstrong BECOMING MARY MEHAN: TWO NOVELS
Jennifer Armstrong FAREWELL TO MANZANAR
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston THE WAVE, Todd Strasser LORD OF THE NUTCRACKER MEN, Iain Lawrence THE LAST MISSION, Harry Mazer NUMBER THE STARS, Lois Lowry FORGOTTEN FIRE, Adam Bagdasarian

Irene Gut Opdyke wishes to express her thanks to the following: To God, the creator of all living things. To Pastors Al and Loretta Forniss from my church, Desert Bloom Ministries, for their love and support. To Jennifer Armstrong, Reverend Frank Eiklor of Shalom International, Rabbi Haime Asa, Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Father Karp of John Paul II Church, the United Jewish Appeal, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Also to my daughter Janina, son-in-law Gary Smith, grandchildren Ray and Robert, and to Larry, Lyn, and Josh Nantais for their continued love and help in my endeavor to bring togetherness among all people. And to all the people in the churches, temples, and schools I have spoken to, remember, Love, not Hate.

To my daughter, Janina.

And for the young people, who can accomplish the impossible and can achieve greatness by finding the strength in God and in the goodness of the human spirit. I dedicate my life story to encourage them to find hope and strength within themselves. Courage is a whisper from above: when you listen with your heart, you will know what to do and how and when.

With all my life

Irene Gut Opdyke

I dedicate this book with love and respect to Irene.

Jennifer Armstrong

PART ONE

PART TWO

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