Description: This story of Krystyna Bierzyńska, an acculturated Polish Jew, explores how she survived the Holocaust thanks to the efforts of her Jewish and surrogate Christian families and served in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Bierzyńska's is a Warsaw story that demonstrates how, in urban interwar Poland, acculturated Jews at last dared to believe that they qualified as Polish patriots.
Review Quotes: "This is a fascinating read as well as an outstanding addition to syllabi for courses in history, gender, identity, and memory studies, making also a notable contribution to the theme of 'reading and writing cities, ' as Bierzyńska's story situates the city of Warsaw in its very center. ... Apart from being a needed monument to the much ignored female heroism in Poland's war struggles, the book testifies to the remarkable richness and complexities of Polish Jews' double identities, rendering impossible any simplistic affinity towards one ethnic group over the other. As such, the book should be considered a 'must have' for any American or European library." -Elwira M. Grossman, University of Glasgow, Slavic and East European Journal Vol. 62.3