The Contract

"Who am I? Where do I belong? Should I hide or reveal my identity? What if we
have another Holocaust? How can I continue to live clandestinely?"
Anguish, hardship, and the courage to survive flow through Joseph Kutrzeba's veins
as he grows up under Nazi occupation in Poland. From a prominent Polish-Jewish
family, Joseph is barely fifteen years old and yet is driven to participate in the
resistance movement of World War II's Warsaw Ghetto. During one of the Nazi's
numerous raids, Joseph is packed into a cattle car bound for the Treblinka gas
chambers, but he manages a hair-raising escape from the moving train. Following
his turbulent and dangerous wonderings, an idealistic young priest introduces him
to the Catholic vernacular; ostensibly to help him disguise his true identity.
Following escape after miraculous escape, Joseph is finally liberated by U.S. troops
in Germany. Just weeks after coming to America, he is drafted and ends up in the
battle zone of the Korean War. On his discharge, Joseph graduates from Yale and
later from NYU. Still, his entire life he's tormented by the gnawing, unremitting
question: Who am I?
This beautifully lyrical memoir describes Joseph's persistence and bravery as he
struggles to understand his true self.