She is called a “righteous gentile” by the Israeli Holocaust Commission, and under any title her actions were irrefutably noble.

Irene Gut Opdyke, who spoke to English professor Sarah Cohen’s Jewish-American Literature course on Sept. 24 in the Humanities Building, used her care-giving skills to save the lives of hundreds of Jews, including 12 that she hid in the basement of a home owned by a Nazi major in the Ukraine.

“She is an outstanding person, a truly great person, with an incredible story,” said Cohen.

The Polish Catholic was a teenager when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. She was taken prisoner and sent to work at an ammunition factory in the Ukraine. She was later assigned to a German major’s headquarters where she served meals to Nazi officers and worked in the laundry room. There she met 12 Jews, who told her of the horrors of their families and neighbors’ existence.

Secretly obtaining information about upcoming Nazi raids upon the ghettos, Obdyke stole permits from the major’s office, allowing the Jews to move freely and warn their families of raids.

Eventually reassigned to the major’s villa as housekeeper, she heard of the Nazi’s plan to arrest many of the ghetto Jews. She informed the 12 friends from the laundry room, gave them instructions to the major’s home, and hid them in the basement.

The major discovered the hiding place, and ordered Opdyke to have sex with him in exchange for their safety. She submitted, the arrangement lasting eight months. At that point, the major ordered the Jews removed from his house. Opdyke made contact with Christian collaborators, was supplied with a horse and buggy, and rode the Jews to safety in a forest.

Later, Obdyke joined a group of Polish fighters and was arrested by the Russian Red Army and sent to a displaced persons camp. She was frequently raped by Russian soldiers.

On Sept. 23, Obdyke, now 74, told her story at Temple Israel in Albany as part of Yom Kippur Services, and was honored by the temple with its annual Shofar Award. Now a California residents, she makes speaking trips around the country each year.

Vinny Reda