Rating: 
Summary: Compelling narrative, less-than-stellar delivery
Review: Not to undermine the accomplishments and bravery of Ms. Gut, but I found the tone of her memoir a little self-congratulatory in places, yet delivered in a "What, little old me, a hero?" voice that didn't feel authentic.I am certainly a cynic, but the story didn't read as though Ms. Gut felt simply compelled to share it, rather, I felt as though she is searching for recognition for all that she has done. She certainly deserves it, but that kind of gratitude shouldn't have to be asked for. I haven't read many holocaust narratives, and it may be that I am more familiar with stories by the "rescued" than the "rescuer" perspective, but I feel sure that there must be other stories that are equally important, yet more elegantly written.
Rating: 
Summary: courageous, defiant Holocaust rescuer serves as moral model
Review: Set in the howling abyss of the Holocaust, Irene Gut Opdyke's stirring memoir, "In My Hands," serves as a beacon of light when the world's moral compass pointed to darkness. When the history of the twentieth century is fully comprehended, I have little doubt that this remarkable woman will emerge as one of the most signficant models of honor, decency, morality and personal responsibility. Ripped from her family and her own personal innocence, Irene Gut never flinched from her private outrage over the evil of genocide; instead, despite the most profound personal outrages committed against her (cruelties which would cause most of us to withdraw from social contact and the ability to feel tenderness), Irene elected to become a savior, personally shouldering the enormous responsibility of hiding Jews, the intended victims of Nazi brutality. Told in a quiet, unassuming voice, "In My Hands" chronicles Irene's "lilac time," a near idyllic childhood spent in the embrace of a loving, supportive family. World War II shattered not only her family's coherence, but it irrevocably altered Irene's perception of humanity. Never wavering in her astounding faith, Irene refused fatalism as a personal philosophy. Recovering from the most brutal sexual assault imaginable, Irene observes Nazi depradations against Polish Jewry and resolves to stand against it. Her defiance began, as she reminds us, with "small steps." Smuggling food through a fence into a ghetto evolves into secreting Jews in a forest. This action emboldens Irene to risk both personal autonomy and safety into actually hiding twelve Jews in the basement of a German major's villa. Never seeking praise or affirmation for her work, cut off from both friends and family, Irene Gut operated in a moral universe solely of her own doing. Her moral code, "I must take the right path, or I would no longer be myself," stands as an affirmation of what it means to be human -- even more crucial to the understanding of this noble human being is that so few, so very few people adopted her tenacious will to assist the brutalized. Capably assisted by the children's author Jennifer Armstrong, Irene Gut Opdyke reaches the widest audience with "In My Hands." Recognized by Israel as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" and honored by our United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent contributor to the study of the Holocaust, Irene Gut Opdyke stands as a moral model. Her wrenching but deeply instructive memoir tells much more than a life's story; it educates our heart and inspires moral vision.
Rating: 
Summary: In My Hands by Irene Gut Opdyke with Jennifer Armstrong
Review: In reading my class did a unit on the holocaust. The teacher told us that we each had to read our choice of a holocaust book and this is the book i picked. This book is about a girl named Irene. She lived in a jewish family that was as normal as any other family. Until one day when the Germans invaded Poland. Irene was the only one in her family that would pass for a german. She was taking a nursing class and she had recently starte helping out in a hospital. Well, one night when she was at the hospital, planes started flying over and dropping bombs everywhere! When she was running around the hospital trying to help everybody, a doctor grabbed her and they left the hospital. He said that she could come with him, but when a bomb dropped she ran for her life and didn't think about what he said. Irene was the walking through the forest in the winteer with the german army following her! When the germans caught up to her they beat her up. She was left there in the snow unconscious. When the doctor was walking through the woods he found her laying there and he took her in. He sent her on a train to his sisters house so that she could live there and help her treat the wounded soldiers that came in for treatment. Finally one day Irene couldn't satnd not being able to know if her family was alright, and so she decided to take a plane back to Poland to see her family. Since she could pass for a German she had no problem getting into the country. When she found out that her parents weren't to be found, she ended up staying with a Major Rugemur. There she found out how awful the jews were really being treated in concentration camps. Everyday she tried to sneak them food, and she knew that the punishment for helping a jew was death. In the Majors house there was a baseent and an attic. That is where she tried to hide all of her Jewish Friends. She hid some of them in the woods though. One day the major found out anout this and he was very upset, although the major said they could stay if she would give him something in return and she agreed. What happens at the end of the book is what you'll have to find out, and i strongly suggest you to read this book!
Rating:
Summary: In My Hands
Review: In reading class, we were required to read a book about the Holocaust. I had read a few before, but I thought that they were boring and uninteresting. I thought that I would have to read another boring, uninteresting book.
This book totally surprised me. It was the first Holocaust book I had read that actually had me feeling the emotions of the main character. This book kept me turning pages until the very last word. This person's true emotions were brought to life throughout this book by colorful language and interesting similes and metaphors.
In My Hands is the story of Irene Gutowna, a Polish, Gentile girl, 17 years of age, who starts to work for a restaurant, which is run by Nazis. She never thought of becoming a resistance fighter. But she started small. The restaurant was located right next to the ghetto. Irene began to hide food under a hole in the fence.
Then she eventually did bigger things, leading up to hiding 10 Jews in the basement of a German sergeant's house. He finds out, but keeps quiet. In return, Irene must be his mistress.
This book was very good, and even made me cry. I think that everyone should read it.
Rating:
Summary: in my hands
Review: Tiffany from MMS I read a book called "In My Hands" The author of it is a lady by the name of Irene Gut Opdyke. "In My Hands" is one of my favorite books about the Holocaust. "In My Hands" has a great vocabulary, and it describes everything that happened in the holocaust so well. I showed it to the people in my family they said that it looks like a fun book to read! They said that the cover really caches the eye. The book is about a teenage girl named Irene, which is Jew. And being a 17 year old blonde with blue eyes, she get a job as a waitress for one of the sergeants. She starts of little by slowly feeding the people in the gettos left over food. Then she risks being killed by helping a little of the Jews out of the gettos. This is a wonderful book about the Holocaust. It will help you see the Holocaust the ways that the Jews saw it. I would recommend this great book to anyone. It has a little something in it, for everybody.
Rating:
Summary: True Hero
Review: Books like this need to replace the trash (i.e. textbooks)which now serve as educational material. Nor will Aristotle's or Shakespeare's or other traditional writings change the chaotic violent future we face; personal accounts like those of Irene Gut Opdyke can.
Rating:
Summary: Truth is beauty
Review: I have read many books about the Second World War, and the Holocaust. This is one of the best.For those who ever read Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank, and wondered what life might be like for a Gentile girl at the same time, this book answers that question.Irene Gut's strong faith, and loving family led her to make the right, if very difficult, choices.The contributions by Jennifer Armstrong are seamless, the true voice of Irene never falters.I have only a few slight quibbles. I wish that there had been more followup on Irene's post-war life, and on the post-war lives of those she saved.Irene Gut Opdyke's faith is as clearly presented as the late Corrie Ten Boom's (The Hiding Place), however, I found In My Hands to be a much more gratifying book.I deeply hope that this book becomes part of the standard curriculum in schools worldwide.However, adults who have any interest in the Second World War and the Holocaust will find this to be a well-written, encouraging book.
Rating:
Summary: In My Hands Review
Review: I thought that In My Hands was a wonderful story about a young woman who set out just to be a nurse but ended up saving more people than just soldiers. It was a well written and moving story. The story is about young Irene who goes off to study to be a nurse but then gets captured and works for a man in a kitchen. She sees many people mistreated and decides to help some escape. This story is thouroghly engrossing and I reccomend it to anyone who likes World War II stories.
Rating:
Summary: A World of War
Review: Reading this Holocaust book made me feel, more than see. The description was that good. Vividly described events and scenes drew me in and made me interact with it. The feelings coursed through the book but could only be felt, not seen. The lead, with its great writing, intrigued me. An excerpt from the book, it was a prologue that captivated my attention. Dangerous situations and my hope for the best kept me turning the pages. Irene's courage lit up the situations. The scary part was it was all true. I would recommend this five star book to persons of age 16 and older and anybody interested in historical accounts. I feel that there are some events in the auto-biography that happened to Irene that may shock younger readers. If you do want your younger child to read this true story, please read it to them, editing out parts as you go. However, without the full story, I don't think that it can be felt. Younger children might be frightened by the all-to-realistic war scenes and shocked at some other events. It might be too slow-paced for their attention span and they won't understand her motives. I believe that teenagers who know, or knew, someone who lived through the Holocaust would find this extremly informative and helpful, especially if that person won't, or wouldn't, talk about it, which I don't blame them for. Lastly, the shock value of the war won't surprise as many teenagers as it will little kids. Overall, I enjoyed this book, not the things that happened to the victims, but how it made me experience and live through the Holocaust, though my experience can never come close to the pain, emotionally and physically, the victims, and survivors, felt.
Rating:
Summary: It is not what we say, but what we do that counts.
Review: This book is for all age groups. It was not just the Jews who were scheduled for removal by Germany during WWII. The Poles were destined to be eliminated as well under a policy called Lebersraum, or living space, as Germany needed more room for growth. Irene Gut was a young nursing student away from home when the Germans flooded into Poland. She survived to fight and try to find a way to get back to her family. She starts helping others by using a spoon to dig a hole under the fence of the Glinice ghetto to leave kitchen scraps for the Jews. Her job lets her hear the current German news, which she passes along to help warn the people in the ghetto. She is able to create jobs to get people out of the ghetto. She rescues ten people by hiding them in a cellar. She gets caught several times and is questioned. In turn, at the end of the war, she is helped by those she helped. This is a very well written story of the life of a young adult who acted on her convictions at a time when fear kept so many from lifting a hand to help another human. I wish more people of this caliber would write their personal stories. A must read!!
|
