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In My Hands Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer Irene Opdyke Books

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In My Hands Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer Irene Opdyke Books

My teen visited the Holocaust museum and it reminded me of a story I had seen in the Reader's Digest ages ago. Took me a few searches, but the memorable line, "It wasn't a bird." is how I finally found it.

I love the authors' use of birds to show us the horror of her experience without having to look at it directly. The language choices are genius.
I also love how the author took the worst humanity has to offer and managed to tell a story of hope. I stand in awe.

Cons: The kindle version made viewing the photos difficult. For the kindle version I would request the language appendix be placed as a preface (I read the whole book through slaughtering the words and missing their meanings... only to find an appendix at the end...alas.)


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In My Hands Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer Irene Opdyke Books Reviews

The potential buyer can read all the other five-star reviews to find out what this book is about. I just want to make two comments.

One, I cannot remember ever writing my close friends and telling them they MUST buy and read any book. After I finished this book, I did just that, saying that you absolutely must read about this Polish girl's courage and sacrifices while saving potential holocaust victims.

Two, I want to acknowledge the writer of the book, Jennifer Armstrong. I have done this same thing and it is difficult to imagine the sweat a writer goes through trying to guarantee that the reader will always think it is the author who is telling them the story, not the writer. In this respect Jennifer Armstrong did a truly outstanding job because you never doubt that it is Irene who is telling you her story. Good work, Jennifer. I wish we could meet over a glass and discuss your trials as you were doing the writing.
I have a student who is a senior in high school who was reading this book for his Literature of the Holocaust class, and he told me I really needed to read this book. He was right. When it arrived, I read the first 90-some pages at work, then took it home and read the entire rest of the book that night. I guess I knew all the big stories of World War II and the Holocaust, but I never really considered the impact on people caught in the middle of it all. I didn't know much about what happened in Poland during the war. I consider this a grave omission on my part. This book has inspired me to read more, to learn more. Irene was a true hero.
This was a very good book. I was hooked from the first page. I am interested in the different stories of the holocaust. This story takes a different view of the Germans and Russians. Irene is more or less saved by working for the Germans. She is shocked and saddened at how the Jewish people were treated. She is separated from her family and she learns that she has to survive the war in order to hopefully see her family again. I could write a lot more but I want you to read and see what Irene went thru in order to survive. You will enjoy this book it is worth the price.
Imagine that you are a 16-year-old Polish girl in a small rural town in eastern Poland called Kozienice enjoying a pretty, bucolic, and sweet life--that is until September 1, 1939. That's the day that Hitler launched his blitzkrieg or lightning war against Poland and overran the country in 18 days. What can you do? How can you possibly help your countrymen and countrywomen fight the Nazi onslaught and defeat the occupation? The answer to that existential question is the major reason why that young girl, known then as Irene Gut, decided, when she was much older (76 years old) and called Irene Opdyke, to tell the story of her life during that horrific time. She was helped in the telling by author Jennifer Armstrong. The book is In My Hands Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer, and it is a powerful account of one person's bravery in the face of unimaginable hate and violence. Wholesale murder, rape, and torture haunted those memories.

Irene risked her life many times to protect Jews she was hiding from imminent destruction. She is inspiring because she wanted to fight to eliminate an evil, whether in the form of the Nazis or the Communists, and if she couldn't do that, then she wanted to protect and save those who were being exterminated by that evil. We can all learn valuable lessons from her moral courage and her cunning determination. This is a remarkable book about a heroine whose name was enshrined in 1982 in the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem as one of the Righteous Among Nations for her heroic acts during the Holocaust.

The writing style is at times poetic, but the real advantage of this autobiography is Irene's remembering and describing how she felt and what she thought as world events were swirling about her while she was entangled in the thicket of the Nazi cruelty in Poland. It is a narrative about survival and charity and goodness. She wanted her family to survive the terror, and she also witnessed how the Jews were brutalized and murdered and therefore was compelled to help them survive the Nazi inhumanity. This is a highly recommended book.
While reading this novel, it's hard to believe that it was true.
One young girl who started out as a student nurse and ends up a resistance fighter. She portrayed true grit, determination and luck!
We cannot let stories like Irene has painstaking told be forgotten! We must never forget the horrors of WWII and the atrocities that were inflicted upon innocent men, women and children.
We must remember that these things happened a mere 77 years ago and can happen again if we are not vigilant!
I highly recommend that this book be required reading of American high school students. They need to learn our history and understand the hardships faced for freedom and of those that were willing to take risks and give up their lives so others may be free.
I say put down the cell phones, Snapchat, protesting tearing down Civil War statues that they know nothing about and pick up a book and LEARN something!
My teen visited the Holocaust museum and it reminded me of a story I had seen in the Reader's Digest ages ago. Took me a few searches, but the memorable line, "It wasn't a bird." is how I finally found it.

I love the authors' use of birds to show us the horror of her experience without having to look at it directly. The language choices are genius.
I also love how the author took the worst humanity has to offer and managed to tell a story of hope. I stand in awe.

Cons The kindle version made viewing the photos difficult. For the kindle version I would request the language appendix be placed as a preface (I read the whole book through slaughtering the words and missing their meanings... only to find an appendix at the end...alas.)