Irene Gut Opdyke

Irene Gut Opdyke (born May 5, 1918 in Kozienice, Poland - May 17, 2003) was a Polish nurse who gained recognition for aiding Jews persecuted by Nazis during the WWII and saving twelve of them.

When Poland was invaded by Germans and Soviets in 1939 she moved with a retreating to the east Polish military unit and cared for the wounded and sick. She was captured by Soviet soldiers, beaten and brutally raped. Later she was forced by them to serve as a helper in a Soviet field hospital. In 1940 she escaped to her relatives in Radom, Poland but was soon arrested in a łapanka by Germans and sent as a slave labourer in a munitions factory. 70-year-old German SS major by name of Eduard Rügemer liked her so he found an easier job for her in the kitchens of a hotel for German officers.

She witnessed the gruesome fate of members of the Jewish population in Poland. It was too much for her so she decided to start helping. She rescued a group of Jewish ghetto inhabitants who were to be executed during the ghetto liquidation. She originally hid them in the very basement of Rügemer's villa, with whom she was living as a maid. When he found out about them, he made an agreement with her that she could keep them down there if she became his mistress. Then the SS officer was transported and Gut had to leave his house. Gut hid half of them in the forests and (as regularly as she could) brought them food and supplies. The other six she hid in the villa of a Nazi officer who had requisitioned her as his servant. The officer eventually discovered two women refugees, but could not report them for fear of incriminating himself; however, in exchange, he insisted that Gut become his mistress.

Before the Red Army entered Tarnopol she had fled with people under her protection into the forest. Paradoxically, in post-war Poland she was suspected of collaborating with Nazis and with the help of an American UN envoy to Poland William Opdyke, in 1949 she left Poland for the US. After 7 months in New York she met Opdyke again, they married and moved to California. Irene Gut Opdyke was a interior decorator in Yorba Linda close to Santa Ana, Califonia.

She was prompted to tell her story decades later only after she had seen a press article denying the Holocaust. Her book "In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer", published in 1999, soon gained a bestseller status.

Awards and medals

In 1982 Irene Gut Opdyke was recognized as Righteous among the Nations - a title given by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem to non-Jews who at personal risk were aiding and saving Jews during the Holocaust.

She was awarded posthumously Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ("Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Zasługi RP") by the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński. On 25 September 2006 in a special ceremony in New York City her daughter accepted the order on her behalf.

Her story in art

Opdyke's autobiography, "In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer" (ISBN: 0385720327), was published in 1999 with the help of Alan Boinus, her manager at the time who helped secure her publisher Random House and co-author Jennifer Armstrong [ [http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/inmyhands/opdyke.html Random House Website] ] [ [http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/harder_books.htm Armstrong's Website] ] .

Later, Opdyke's story became the subject of a lawsuit in 1998 when Opdyke tried to re-gain the rights to tell the "authorized" account of her life story, which she had previously assigned in a lawful motion picture option agreement. Notable copyright attorney Carole Handler represented Opdyke and worked with the parties to reach an agreement. The case was eventually dismissed with prejudice [The Los Angeles Times, "Holocaust Heroine Is Satisfied With Accord", April 12, 2000] . In an ironic twist, after the trial, all parties agreed that the promoter did "nothing wrong." Mrs. Opdyke publicly acknowledged the promoter who she sued by thanking him in her book, "In My Hands" and agreed to give him a producer credit for the eventual "authorized" motion picture about her life story.

A play based the book "In My Hands", entitled "Irena's Vow", written by Dan Gordon and starring Tovah Feldshuh premiered in off-Broadway Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York.

References

External links

* [http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/Opdyke.htm Irene Gut Opdyke at Forgotten Holocaust]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1136708.ece Irene Gut Opdyke obituary] in The Timesonline.com
* [http://www.achuka.co.uk/special/opdyke.htm 2001 Interview with Irene Gut Opdyke]
* [http://polish-jewish-heritage.org/eng/june_03_Irene_Opdyke_Washington_Post.htm Transcript of a 2003 Washington Post article on Irene Gut Opdyke]
* [http://www.curtainup.com/irenasvow.html "Irena's Vow" review]