Title: Irena's Gift
Author: Karen Kirsten
Publisher: Kensington Publishing, Citadel
Genre: Non Fiction, History
Release Date: 23rd July 2024
BLURB
In 1942, in German-occupied Poland, a Jewish baby girl was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. That baby, Joasia, knew nothing about this extraordinary event until she was thirty-two, when a letter arrived from a stranger. She also learned that the parents who raised her were actually her aunt and uncle. Joasia kept this knowledge hidden from her own daughter, Karen—until an innocent question unexpectedly revealed the truth.
Determined to understand the generational trauma that cloaked her family in silence, her own origins, and to help heal her mother’s pain, Karen set out to unearth decades of secrets and piece together a hidden history—from the glittering days of pre-war Poland to the little-known Radom Prison, where of 500 resistance members tortured, only 10 survived, her grandfather the only known Jewish one. There, Karen finds answers, yet not easy ones.
As she exposes her family’s saga of love and betrayal, countless brushes with death, precarious hiding places, and the astounding negotiation with an SS officer who saved her mother’s life, Karen must reconcile the complicated, multi-faceted truths behind human behavior.
Irena’s Gift weaves together a mystery, history, and memoir to tell a story of sacrifice, impossible choices, impossible odds, and the way trauma reverberates throughout generations. Yet it is also a story of resilience and bravery, revealing how love and hope, too, can not only
prevail through the worst imaginable circumstances, but resonate through
time.
REVIEW
It was the title that first attracted me to the book, I wanted to know who Irena was and what was her gift. Then when I read the blurb, I knew I had to know more about this family and what happened to them during the Holocaust.
Karen knew nothing of her family history during the Holocaust, in fact at age four when she asked her Nana about the number on her arm, her nana’s reply was that a man had put it there, that it was her phone number! It’s only later that it is revealed that Karen’s grandmother is not Joanna’s (Karen’s mum) biological mother. In fact, a woman called Irena and was Nana Alicja’s sister. When this is revealed a lot of things start to make more sense to Karen about how her Nana Alicja treats her mother Joanna differently to her Uncle Tony. As a child Joanna had nightmares about men in uniforms, and when she asked Alicja to explain she refuses to talk about it. Joanna’s parents Alicja & Mietek wanted her to pursue a career of their choosing such as law or engineering, but Joanna’s heart led her to pursue a career in teaching children’s art & history. When Tony, Joanna’s brother graduated medical school, a career choice they approved of they bought him a flashy white MG Convertible. When Joanna graduated her own chosen career training Alicja & Mietek bought her a pen. Mietek & Alicja wanted Joanna to marry a “well to do” Jewish man, again Joanna followed her own mind and path and married an Australian, the son of Swiss immigrants.
Joanna didn’t really know her full history until she received a letter from a stranger in Canada called Zdzislaw Przygoda. This man addressed her as Joasia, a different form of her name Joanna and had sent her photographs of her as a child. There was one of Alicja, and Irena who died in the war. As Joasia/Joanna stares at the photograph she looks at the dark- haired Irena and something just clicks into place, it’s like something has come unlocked or released and memories start flooding back. The writer of the letter, Zdzislaw says how he carried the photo of Joanna & Irena all through the camps. He goes on to say that Irena had been killed by the Germans and that they had always loved Joanna and he still loves her.
When Alicja first learns of the letter she is surprised and perhaps annoyed by that letter as when she first learns of its existence her remark is “Zdzislaw promised he would never tell!” She also admonishes Joanna saying “We were so good to you.” Joanna assures Alicja that she loves Alicja & Mietek even more knowing that they adopted her. “Secrets are like a loose thread in a jumper; if you pull hard enough, the whole garment falls apart” really does fit what happens when the letter arrives from Canada for Joasia/Joanna.
Joanna kept this letter hidden from Karen and her sister for years as Alicja made her promise not to tell them, as she thought that if they found out she was not their biological Nana she would somehow no longer love her. Joanna kind of reluctantly agrees but says she will not lie to her children if they ask her a direct question. When Karen met Zdzislaw and his mother Helena, she is told to call Zdzislaw “Uncle Dick” and to call Helena “babcia.” Zdislaw reveals more about what happened during the war, the majority of it Alicja seems to remember in a different way, she confuses dates, timelines and doesn’t remember certain things. Alicja blames Dick for a lot when it was him that helped them evade the Gestapo on numerous occasions, obtaining false papers that declared them Polish not Jewish which enabled Alicja & Mietek to live on the Aryan side of town. Keeping suspicion of them being resistance members or collaborators. Dick also obtained forged papers for Eljasz, Irena & Alicja’s father to help him get out of the ghetto but Eljasz delayed leaving and ended up never getting out of the ghetto.
It's sad that Alicja & Zdzislaw/Dick lived through the same atrocities and have such different versions of events. They both endured awful things during this time and I think perhaps Alicja maybe blames Zdzislaw/Dick for not protecting her sister Irena. Naturally Alicja is angry her sister did not survive, maybe she even feels a little guilty that she survived and Irena didn’t. What this family endured hiding in plain sight, thrown in jails, concentration camps, tortured, starving, beaten, the bribery and betrayal around them, living from hour to hour waiting to be caught and more is horrendous. I have to admit that had I gone through anything like the family in this book, I would probably not want to think or talk about. It is strange how Alicja can and will talk to Karen, her granddaughter about Holocaust, even initially arranging to watch Schindlers List with her, though in the end Alicja goes to see it with friends, yet she refuses to talk about the Holocaust with Joanna, her (adopted) daughter.
I found the book really compelling, the way the past affects how you live your life today. The way how despite being so young Josia/Joanna still had memories of the war and men in uniform but Alicja didn’t want to deal with explanations so she just ignored them and kept the realities away from her. The title of the book can have more than one meaning, Irena’s Gift could be that she gave her daughter to Alicja to raise as her own. Irena’s Gift could also be her sacrifice of selflessly giving up her child, Joasia/Joanna allowing her to be apart from her, to give her a better chance of survival. I think the title really fits the book very well.
Summing up, I found Irena’s Gift, an extremely interesting, informative memoir about the Holocaust and how it affected the different members and generations of one family not just during the war and Holocaust, but years and years later.
