Warsaw is My Country

“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 ~Elwira M. Grossman

“Krystyna
Bierzynska is a Holocaust survivor par excellence. Born in Warsaw in 1928, the
daughter of assimilated Polish Jews who perished during the six-year German
occupation of Poland, she managed to leave the Polish capital as Jews were
being herded into the doomed Nazi ghetto. In 1944, as a member of the underground
Home Army, she participated in the failed Warsaw rebellion against the Germans.
Five years ago, on the 70th anniversary of that revolt, she agreed to be
interviewed by Beth Holmgren, a professor of Slavic Studies at Duke University.
Holmgren’s book, Warsaw Is My Country: The Story
of Krystyna Bierzynska, 1928-1945 (Academic Studies Press), is wide-ranging in scope and
sometimes deeply emotional.” —Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel

“[A] shining example of what can result when difficult and deeply troubling personal histories are placed into the hands of skillful and careful storytellers. … A captivating and moving coming of age story, Warsaw Is My Country traces the intersections of Polish and Jewish histories of the Second World War through the eyes of a young, real life heroine.” —Michal Wilczewski, H-Poland