In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

Irena leaves the hotel room and finds Pasiewski’s brother-in-law, Marik Ridel, and his son, Janek. Irena falls in love with Janek at first sight; he soothes her sense of being “utterly alone,” separated from her family and now her friends as well, and she loves him “the way a priest loves God: without question” (241). She follows him to the group of partisans living in the forest, partly to keep fighting the enemy, but more out of devotion to Janek. She is given small jobs, such as carrying messages, and though she knows the group is assassinating German officers, she accepts this violence and thrives in this “atmosphere of danger and defiance” (242). In April, she becomes an official member of the partisan group, and Janek proposes. They plan to marry on May 5, Irena’s birthday, and to her amazement she finds she “could be happy” again (244). Then Janek takes part in an ambush on a German transport, and he is killed.

Irena, devastated, wishes for death, but a priest allied with the partisans, Father Tadeusz, helps her find new hope. He reminds Irena that she has saved many lives, and while it was God’s will that Janek die, Irena’s “almost miraculous” (245) luck during the war illustrates God’s will that she survive.