Irene Opdyke oral history interview, 1993 May 5

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Summary

Title:
Irene Opdyke oral history interview
Dates:
1993 May 5
Creators:
Opdyke, Irene, Bendayan, Sandra, Grant, John, Lee, Donna Shaffer, and Sosna, Laurie
Abstract:
This collection comprises three interviews with Irene Opdyke. The first interview comprises one sound disc and was conducted by the Holocaust Oral History Project on January 12, 1992; the second interview comprises one videotape with accompanying transcript and was conducted by the Holocaust Oral History Project on May 5, 1993; the third interview comprises two videotapes and was conducted by the Holocaust Oral History Project on March 18, 1994.
Extent:
0.4 Linear feet comprising one audio disc, three videotapes with a combined total running time of 4:51, and one transcript of 54 pages
Language:
Preferred citation:

Irene Opdyke oral history interview - OHP.8626, Tauber Holocaust Library - JFCS Holocaust Center, San Francisco, California

Background

Scope and content:

This collection comprises three interviews with Irene Opdyke. The first interview comprises one sound disc and was conducted by an unknown interviewer on behalf of the Holocaust Oral History Project on January 12, 1992; the second interview comprises one videotape with accompanying transcript and was conducted by Sandra Bendayan on behalf of the Holocaust Oral History Project on May 5, 1993; the third interview comprises two videotapes and was conducted by Sandra Bendayan on behalf of the Holocaust Oral History Project on March 18, 1994. Irene Opdyke was a rescuer and is one of the Righteous Among the Nations.

The interview describes Ms. Opdyke's childhood in Kozienice, Poland; her service as a nurse in the Polish Army; and her experiences in a forced labor camp near Radom, Poland. She describes her work as a housekeeper for a German Army major in Radom and Tarnapol and the mass killings she witnessed there. She describes in detail her experiences hiding Jewish people in the major's house, the raids by the Gestapo, and the major's discovery of the people in hiding. She describes the experience of being a woman in wartime. She discusses joining the partisans near Radom in 1944, her arrest by and escape from the Soviets in 1945, and her experiences in a displaced persons camp in Germany between 1946 and 1949. She describes emigration to the United States in 1949, her life after the war, her family, and her experiences speaking to the public about her wartime activities.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Debbie Kahn
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2011-09-06T14:58-0700

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no restrictions to access for this collection.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions to use for this collection.

Preferred citation:

Irene Opdyke oral history interview - OHP.8626, Tauber Holocaust Library - JFCS Holocaust Center, San Francisco, California

Location of this collection:
JFCS Holocaust Center
2245 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94115, US
Contact:
(415) 449-3717
HolocaustCenter@jfcs.org
Website