Description:
Remetz is an enthralling memoir about hope and survival, teaching us about the resilience of the human spirit despite the trauma it endures. It commemorates Jan's outstanding bravery and honors the history of Warsaw's Jewry.
Brief description: Yohay Jan Remetz was born and raised in pre-WWII Warsaw. Upon the German invasion into Poland he was locked up in the Warsaw ghetto with his family, struggling to sustain daily under the brutal Nazi occupation. Determined to survive, he fled the ghetto, and with endless bravery and wit, took on a Christian identity which eventually led him to work as a German airfield-guard. Under this fake identity he later joined the Polish resistance movement against the Nazis, thereby fulfilling the last two commands of his deceased aunt: survive and avenge.
Review Quotes:
"An absolute blessing to be able to engage with the memories of Mr. Remetz and his rare survival as a young Jewish man hiding in plain sight outside of the Warsaw Ghetto. This book illustrates the Warsawian culture of that time so well. The author does this by recounting the many ways through which he had to ensure his survival by modifying his every move and behavior. He had to also also learn the rural polish Catholic behaviors and language. He was forced to examine every aspect of his every move and critique himself through rigorous self reflection. The tension he experienced at all times is jarring just to read about, even from the safe distance of time." - T. Broadhead
"I have read many books about the Holocaust, but this one shows the life of hiding on the other side of the walls. How life looked and felt hiding in plain sight and risking discovery daily. It is a window into the observations of the ignoring of the suffering of others to survive due to the risk of discovery. How others were simply located because of having connections with others hiding in plain sight, and how severing those connections could leed to saving your own life. I'm glad for a well written look into this world, and thankful to the many who never asked the wrong questions to keep many hiding in plain sight safe." - V. DeMuppet
"In this breath-taking beautifully written story of extra ordinary courage and wisdom, Jan not only meticulously describes the events and atmosphere leading to the German occupation of Poland in 1939, but also walks us through his and his family's desperate attempts to survive in a hopeless and extremely violent environment of the Warsaw Ghetto. Upon realizing this attempt will most surely fail the family decides that Jan will escape the ghetto using an Aryan fake identity. Jan not only had succeeded in doing that, but had also returned to rescue his older brother and aunt, later discovering his whole family had been exterminated in the Treblinka death camp. Not losing hope, Jan immerses himself within the hostile Polish communities, all the while carefully maintaining his fake Aryan identity. With immeasurable courage, Jan goes on to work as a sentry in a Nazi airfield near Warsaw, and when his fake identity-card goes missing, he steps into the Gestapo headquarters to retrieve it. Reading this book is a moving, thrilling and teaching experience recommended to all." - Gonen