Karen Kirsten grew up in a family of survivors. Her mother, Joasia, was born during the Holocaust, and her beloved grandparents, Alicja and Mietek, were imprisoned in concentration camps. Each of these individuals experienced unspeakable trauma and initially either spoke little about their experiences or lied about them to protect her. For example, when Kirsten was a child, Alicja told her that the number tattooed on her arms was her phone number.
In Irena’s Gift, Kirsten unearths her family’s story. She sets her personal history against the backdrop of her family’s Holocaust experience, which she pieces together through interviews, memoirs, and visits to Poland and concentration camps. What she discovers is that each of the central people in her life made this journey in their own unique way.
Early in the book, Kirsten shares the information that would propel her to begin her investigation. Karen Kirsten’s mother, Joasia, received a letter at the age of thirty-two in which she learned that much of what she believed about her family was not true. Mietek and Alicja, the people who raised her, were actually her aunt and uncle. Joasia also discovered that her father, whom she thought had abandoned her, was living in Canada and eager to meet her.
Kirsten pieces together her mother’s past through conversations with her grandmother, Alicja; her mother’s father; and her biological grandfather, Dick. She also visits the places where her mother lived — Warsaw, Lvov, concentration camps, and the remains of ghettos. Irena, Alicja’s sister, was murdered at the farm where she was hiding from the Nazis with Dick, her husband.
Miraculously, Joasia was saved and smuggled by Dick to Alicja and Mietek, his sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Alicja and Mietek, along with Joasia, lived as Christians, in constant fear of being given up to the gestapo. All of them lived meager existences — until the day the gestapo showed up and imprisoned Mietek, Alicja, and Dick, leaving baby Joasia behind and alone. After regular beatings and abuse, Mietek and Alicja bribed a prison guard with the jewels Alicja had kept hidden for three years in order to rescue baby Joasia and bring her to safety. The baby was eventually brought to a monastery, where she was cared for for several years. At the end of the war, Joasia was about four years old. Alicja and Mitek managed to survive and eventually moved to Australia with Joasia. Dick survived too, but Joasia wouldn’t see him again for more than thirty years.
Like many Holocaust memoirs, the story describes the horror of ghettos, concentration camps, and forced marches in streets. What is exceptional about Kirsten’s book, however, is the series of details specific to her family. At the age of fifteen, Joasia converted to Christianity, simultaneously hiding it from her parents and rejecting them through her conversion. She grew up feeling that Alicja hated her and found solace only after her conversion. Kirsten admits that the relationship between Alicja and Joasia was difficult at best. Alicja struggled to trust people or show warmth. As Kirsten explores further, she discovers that her family members each have their own version of every story, and she tries to understand the reasons for these divergent views.
Irena’s Gift is a highly readable and personal story about strength and survival. Ultimately, Kirsten concludes that all we can take from the past are the stories. The truth, if we go looking for it, will always remain elusive. Instead, if we are lucky, we can develop a greater understanding of those we care about.
Marian Stoltz-Loike, Ph.D. is author, speaker and academician. She is the author of Dual Career Couples: New Perspectives in Counseling and Cross-Cultural Communication.
