Wikipedia

Irene Gut Opdyke

Irene Gut Opdyke (born Irena Gut, 5 May 1918 – 17 May 2003)[2] was a Polish nurse who gained international recognition for aiding Polish Jews persecuted by Nazi Germany during World War II. She was honored as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for risking her life to save twelve Jews.

Irene Gut Opdyke
Front cover of In My Hands. Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Opdyke, ISBN 0385720327
Born
Irena Gut

(1918-05-05)5 May 1918
Kozienice, Poland
Died17 May 2003(2003-05-17) (aged 85)
Fullerton, California, US
Citizenship
  • Poland
  • United States[1]
OccupationNurse
Spouse
William Opdyke
​
​
(m. 1956; died 1993)​
Children1
HonoursRighteous Among the Nations
Maple tree in memory of Irena Gut Opdyke, Righteous Among the Nations, in Piekary Śląskie, in Poland.

Life edit

Irena Gut was born into a Catholic family, in Kozienice, Poland, during the interwar period; she was one of five daughters. The family moved to Radom, where she enrolled at the nursing school before the Nazi-Soviet invasion of 1939. While hiding during the invasion, Russian soldiers discovered her and she was beaten and raped.[3][4] Originally forced to work in a munitions factory during the German occupation, Gut was hired by Wehrmacht Major Eduard Rügemer [de] to work in a kitchen of a hotel that frequently served Nazi officials when he learned she was fluent in German.[4] It was during this period that Gut witnessed a German soldier, in the ghetto near the hotel, rip an infant from its mother's arms and throw the baby head-first onto the ground, presumably killing the child.[5] Horrified, she initially wanted to leave her faith but she came to a realization that people have a choice between doing good or evil and determined that she would help the Jews when the opportunity arose.[5] Knowing she risked her life, Gut secretly took food from the hotel and delivered it to the Tarnopol Ghetto.[6][5]

Gut smuggled Jews out of the ghetto into the surrounding forest and delivered food for them there. Meanwhile, Rügemer asked Gut to work as a housekeeper in his requisitioned villa. She hid 12 Jews in the cellar.[7] They would come out and help her clean the house when he was not around. Rügemer found out about the Jews she was hiding. At risk to all their lives, Rügemer kept Gut's secret, on the condition that she became his mistress.[8] Rügemer fled with the Germans in 1944 ahead of the Russian advance. Gut and several Jews also fled west from Soviet occupied Poland to Allied-occupied Germany. She was put in a Displaced Persons camp, where she met William Opdyke, a United Nations worker from New York City. She emigrated to the United States and married Opdyke shortly thereafter in 1956.[6][3] They had a daughter together. Opdyke died in 1993, while she died in 2003 after complications from hepatitis.[9]

Recognition edit

After years of silence regarding her wartime experience, in 1975 Opdyke was convinced to speak after hearing a neo-Nazi claim that the Holocaust never occurred.[10] Opdyke began a public speaking career which culminated in her memoir In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer.[10] In 1982, she was recognized and honored by Yad Vashem as one of the Polish Righteous Among the Nations.[11] In 2012, Eduard Rügemer was recognized and honored by Yad Vashem as one of the German Righteous Among the Nations.[12]

Synagogue service and papal blessing edit

On 9 June 1995, Opdyke was honored with a papal blessing from Pope John Paul II at a joint service of Jews and Catholics held at Shir Ha-Ma'alot synagogue in Irvine, California, along with an invitation from Pope John Paul II for her to have an audience with him. The papal blessing and audience with the Pope had been obtained for her by congregant Alan Boinus with the help of Monsignor Joseph Karp of the John Paul II Polish Center Catholic church in Yorba Linda, California. The papal blessing was the first recognition by the Catholic Church of her efforts during the Holocaust. Opdyke said, "This is the greatest gift I can receive for whatever I did in my life."[13]

ABC Primetime Live trip to Israel edit

In July 1997, Opdyke traveled to Israel with her manager, Alan Boinus, and his wife, publicist Rosalie Boinus, for a television story arranged by the Boinuses for ABC Primetime Live, which aired on 10 June 1998 and re-united Opdyke with Hermann Morks, one of the twelve Jews whose lives she saved.[14][15]

On the trip, Alan Boinus arranged for private meetings with Opdyke at the Knesset with former President and Prime Minister of Israel Shimon Peres and Speaker of the Knesset Dan Tichon. Boinus also arranged for other meetings in Israel for Opdyke with Mordecai Paldiel, Director of the Department of the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem, and with Holocaust survivor Roman Haller: Roman was the baby Opdyke saved during the war by convincing his parents, Ida and Lazar Haller—two of the twelve Jews that Gut had hidden in Rügemer's cellar—that Ida should carry the child to term after she became pregnant while hiding in the cellar. After the war, when a returning Rügemer was rejected by his wife and children in Nuremberg for being party to saving Jews, the Hallers took him into their own home in Munich.[16] Rügemer became Zeide ('grandfather') to Roman Haller. Haller went on to serve as director of the German office of the Claims Conference, which represents world Jewry in negotiating restitution for the victims of Nazi persecution.[17]

Legacy edit

Memoir edit

Opdyke's memoir, In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer,[18] was arranged by her then-manager Alan Boinus and published in 1999 through Random House, with co-author Jennifer Armstrong. Alan Boinus and his wife, Rosalie Boinus, among others, are thanked by Opdyke in the acknowledgements.[19]

Irene Gut Opdyke Holocaust Rescuer Foundation edit

The Irene Gut Opdyke Holocaust Rescuer Foundation was founded in 1997 by Alan and Rosalie Boinus in honor of Opdyke to offer awards, grants, and scholarships to young people inspired by the heroic acts of Irene Gut Opdyke when she was young, so they may likewise stand up to racism, bigotry, and hate.[20] It has since been disbanded.

Play edit

A play based on the book In My Hands, Irena's Vow, opened on Broadway on 29 March 2009 to mixed reviews.[21] It was written by Dan Gordon and starred Tovah Feldshuh as Irena Gut.[22] It had earlier premiered off-Broadway at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York City. After failing to find an audience, the play closed on 28 June 2009.[22][23]

Irena's Vow, a film adaptation of the play, premiered in 2023 with Sophie Nélisse in the lead role.[24]

Motion picture legal dispute edit

In 1998, Opdyke's story was the subject of legal action and cross-complaint when she sought to regain the motion picture rights to her life story, which she had previously assigned in an option agreement. Copyright attorney Carole Handler represented Opdyke and worked with the parties to reach an agreement. The case was dismissed with prejudice.[25]

Song edit

In 2012, Katy Carr, a British songwriter with Polish roots, released a song inspired by Opdyke titled "Mała Little Flower"[26] on her album Paszport. On 26 September 2012, Trojka Radio in Poland nominated it as a song of the week.[27]

Works edit

  • With coauthor Armstrong, Jennifer (1999). In my hands: Memories of a Holocaust rescuer (1st ed.). New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780679891819.
  • With coauthor Elliot, Jeffrey M. (September 1992). Into the Flames: Life Story of a Righteous Gentile. Borgo Press. ISBN 978-0-89370-475-9.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Anton, Mike (21 May 2003). "Irene Opdyke, 85; Hid Jews in Poland During the Holocaust". Los Angeles Times. After the war, Opdyke immigrated to the United States, where she became a citizen ...
  2. ^ "Irene Gut Opdyke". The Times. 28 May 2003. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Nazi officer's mistress risked her life to save Jews". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 May 2003 – via The Telegraph.
  4. ^ a b Atwood 2011, p. 36.
  5. ^ a b c Atwood 2011, p. 37.
  6. ^ a b Jensen, Joyce. "In Her Hands by Irene Opdyke". International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  7. ^ Atwood 2011, p. 39.
  8. ^ Opdyke, Irene Gut; Armstrong, Jennifer (April 2001). In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer. New York: Anchor Books, a division of Random House. p. 190. ISBN 9780385720328.
  9. ^ Anton, Mike (21 May 2003). "Irene Opdyke, 85; Hid Jews in Poland During the Holocaust". Los Angeles Times.
  10. ^ a b Atwood 2011, p. 41.
  11. ^ "Opdyke, Irene". The Zekelman Holocaust Center. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Gut Opdyke Irena". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  13. ^ Haycox, Lori (10 June 1995). "Pope recognizes Yorba Linda woman's WWII sacrifice". The Orange County Register. ProQuest 272859710.
  14. ^ "Irene Gut Opdyke interview". ACHUKA.
  15. ^ "Irene Gut Opdyke- Polish Rescuer & Hero". Primetime Live. 10 June 1998. ABC. Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ Schapiro, Rich (28 January 2022). "A Nazi officer's housekeeper hid 12 Jews in the basement. All of them made it out alive". NBC News.
  17. ^ Snyder, Donald (3 September 2009). "Roman Haller and his zeide: How a Jewish couple took in the Wehrmacht officer who hid them". The Jerusalem Post.
  18. ^ Opdyke & Armstrong 1999.
  19. ^
  20. ^ Dodson, Marcida (9 June 1998). "Holocaust Rescuer Says She Was 'Predestined'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016.
  21. ^ Zoglin, Richard (6 April 2009). "What's Wrong with this Spring's Broadway Plays". Time. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  22. ^ a b "Irena's Vow". Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  23. ^ Cox, Gordon (16 June 2009). "'Irena's Vow' to close on June 28: Broadway play was struggling to find audience". Variety. Archived from the original on 4 July 2009.
  24. ^ Kay, Jeremy (9 May 2022). "Sophie Nélisse, Dougray Scott to star in Quiver's wartime drama 'Irena's Vow', as WestEnd launches sales". Screen Daily.
  25. ^ Marosi, Richard (12 April 2000). "Holocaust Heroine Is Satisfied With Accord". Los Angeles Times.
  26. ^ Official music video for Mała little Flower by Katy Carr. YouTube. 29 December 2012. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  27. ^ "Katy Carr – Mała Little Flower". Polskie Radio (in Polish). 26 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

Sources edit

External links edit

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