In My Hands Review

We all know the gruesome story of the Jews between the years of 1939-1944. The heroism the survivors of the Holocaust exhibited is undeniable, but rarely do people acknowledge the role of the rescuer. In My Hands by Iren GutOpdyke is the perfect place to start when looking for the side of the Holocaust.

This book, in short, is beautiful. Through Irene's memories the reader begins to understand the lives of the people during World War II. When the war began Irene was still a child, barely 17-years-old, she was studying to be a nurse and it seemed she had her whole life ahead of her. Irene did not "become a resistance fighter; a smuggler of jews, a defier of the SS and the Nazis all at once". Her life came to a hault with the invasion of her beloved Poland, from there she had lost her not just her home but her family and her innocence.

In My Hands was not a difficult book to read as far as her style of writing. She's clear in all her discriptions, to the point where I can see the coldness of officer Rokita's eyes, or feel the Irene as she's smuggling her friends to safety. The difficult part of the book was her story itself. Which of course is expected when discussing the Holocaust.

There is a great sense of nationalism in Irene, one that is uncommon in today's standards. Post 9/11 there red, white, and blue could be seen everywhere, but 6 years later that number flags has dwindled. Irene's love for Poland never ceased; it seemed that half her fight was for the hope that her country will one day return. Over and over again Irene expresses her longing for her country which fueled her hatred for the Russians and Germans and desire to aide the resistance.

Irene's feminism played a large part in her story. I'm amazed at the things "just a girl" could do. Women in the 1940s were not as respected as they are today. There were many that overlooked and underestimated Irene for the gender she is. At times even Irene herself doubted her abilities as a result of peoples beliefs in girls and what they can and can't do. Soon she realized, who would ever guess a girl could hide 12 Jews? And in the basement of a Nazi major, and who would question a girl carrying a basket of supplies for her employer? She's inspiration to girls of any time period, that "female" is not a handicap.

Irene writes her memoir in a feeling of indifference. There are points in her story where the lasting scars of the war are evident, but when praised by people and compared to Moses she quickly disagreed. Perhaps she is modest, or perhaps she simply believed she had no other option. When faced with the truth of the life of Jews in the ghettos, and her fears of what God would think of her standing by and doing nothing kick in. Helping her Jewish friends only seemed the natural thing to do.

To say the war had put many lives on hold is an understatement. A seventeen year old today is going to highschool, preparing for college, going out with friends, falling in love, learning about life. By 1944, Irene had had one kind of life: resisting. After her friends were gone and safe, after the war was over, she was in her 20s, it felt like not only a life time to her, but to me reading her story. It seemed impossible a young woman had gone through all that she had, and rather unfair that she after all she had done, she still needed to find herself in the world. One would assume that after the war, she could find her family, live in a free Poland once more, and live happily ever after.

Irene's story left me with images of her own memory, as if they were my own. I was completely engulfed from start to finish by the bravery a young woman could have.