In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

Irene Gut was only 17 years old when she was separated from her family.  She volunteered to help with the war effort as a student nurse.  When her homeland was invaded she, along with others in her unit, were captured by the Russians.  She was raped and brutalized by the soldiers.  She is forced to work for the Germans, eventually running an officer's household.

Witnessing the horrid conditions in a ghetto, she begins to help Jews.  First, she leaves bits of food by a fence.  Then, she expands her aid by insisting she needs additional help in the home.  She is able to help care for more Jews in this way.  Ultimately, she ends up hiding Jews in the basement of the officer's home and smuggling them to freedom.

Irene does not even realize the danger she faces.  She is simply horrified by the way humans are treating humans.  "I did not ask myself, Should I do this? But, How will I do this? Every step of my childhood had brought me to this crossroad; I must take the right path, or I would no longer be myself. You must understand that I did not become a resistance fighter, a smuggler of Jews, a defier of the SS and the Nazis, all at once."

The most poignant moment in the book is when the reader finally makes the connection of Irene's story of the falling bird.  It is an image one is not soon to forget.