In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

Only a girl. That's what Irene Gut was when the nightmare of WWII began and her life was changed forever. Stories of Holocaust survival abound but you will never read a memoir like this. I cried at the end. Hard. For what she went through and for all those she could not save. To say she had courage tells but a fraction of the story. She was only a girl but she risked her life over and over again to help people she didn't even know. Unforgettable. I don't think she will ever leave my mind.

"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,......more

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......more

I have read many WW II memoirs and will continue to do so. The grit, determination, perseverance, and sheer will to live and to help others survive is educational and inspirational....and we always hope to break the cycle that history does not repeat itself by learning about historical events. Irene......more

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, th......more

3 stars for the writing. 5 stars for the remarkable story. This is not a work of fiction. And it is a heartbreaking one. This is a recount of the author’s experience, who as a young Polish girl, hid and saved Jews during the Holocaust. This is the first time that I read a story from a rescuer and not......more