Wartime Drama Becomes Legal Battle

As a young woman during World War II, Irene Gut Opdyke risked death to save Jewish lives, and her heroic story is hailed as one of the most inspiring to emerge from the ashes of the Holocaust.

Her wartime saga is now at the core of a legal battle pitting the 76-year-old Yorba Linda resident against a Laguna Beach promoter who had offered to sell the story to Hollywood.

Opdyke has filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court, charging that the promoter, Alan N. Boinus, 44, gained exclusive and potentially valuable rights to her life story by manipulating her into signing contracts she didn’t understand because of her poor English skills.

Opdyke said Boinus is now fixed on producing a “Schindler’s List”-type film that will reap him riches. In the lawsuit, she seeks compensatory and punitive damages, but she said her primary aim is to void her contracts with Boinus and regain full control of her story.

“I am just a plain woman. I am not a woman who is crazy for money,” said Opdyke, who has recounted her story countless times over the years at schools, synagogues and churches. “I just want to be remembered by the children.”

Boinus, who said he is saddened by the accusations, is in the unenviable position of defending himself against a “Holocaust hero” he says he greatly admires. His primary motivation, he said, was to make her story more widely known. The increased recognition, he hoped, would help raise money for the foundation he established in her name: the Irene Gut Opdyke Holocaust Rescuer Foundation.

Boinus said his agreement with Opdyke is a standard entertainment industry contract, and suspects that others want to cut him out after years of work. Among other things, he said he is responsible for getting Opdyke a book deal with a New York publisher, gaining her national and international media exposure and writing a screenplay that has generated film studio interest.

“The irony of all of this is both Irene’s lawyers and I have been motivated by the same thing: to tell the story of this most amazing, brave soul,” Boinus said in a prepared statement. “I have had the passion to tell it when no one would listen.”

As a teenager, Opdyke, a Roman Catholic, saved at least 12 Jews from the Nazis by hiding them in a villa where she worked as a housekeeper for a German officer.

The officer eventually learned that Opdyke was hiding Jews on his property, and she was forced to become his mistress to keep him from turning her and the Jews in. Opdyke’s courageous acts merited her one of Israel’s highest honors, the Medal of Honor, and she has been named a Righteous Gentile by the Israeli Holocaust Commission.

Five years ago, after one of her many public appearances, Opdyke met Boinus at an Irvine synagogue, where he is a member. Opdyke trusted Boinus initially, she said, because he helped her settle a dispute with a publisher that had released a book on her life.

Eventually, she gave Boinus exclusive rights to her story under an agreement that would divide any profits equally among Boinus, Opdyke and the foundation. But Opdyke said that she did not understand the ramifications of the agreement and a series of others that followed.

Opdyke’s suspicions deepened when she learned that the agreements called for Boinus’ share of any profits to increase in the event of her death. Diane Klein, one of Opdyke’s attorneys, said the provision led Opdyke to suspect Boinus was not seeking a movie deal in the short term, as was her wish. Boinus wanted to profit further by securing himself a role in the production process--either as producer, consultant or screenwriter, Opdyke says.

Opdyke, a diminutive woman who speaks with a Polish accent, said Boinus passed up many movie deal offers in the hopes of producing a large-scale work.

“He didn’t want to accept anything, because he wanted a movie like ‘Schindler’s List,’ ” she said. Howard Kapp, Boinus’ attorney, said Opdyke is not as unsophisticated and naive as she portrays herself. He disputes Opdyke’s assertions that she does not know enough English to understand the agreements.

“Her lawyers attempt to paint this articulate lady, who is conversant in five languages, into a feeble old woman with limited English skills. This is untrue,” Kapp said in a prepared statement. “Ms. Opdyke has written two books, completely in English. She has lived in California for over 40 years and speaks, reads and writes English perfectly.”

Boinus, who said he is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinema and producer of a number of special events, including concerts for Chicago and Jose Feliciano, said the lawsuit has “shattered” his dream of making the foundation into a living legacy for Opdyke.

It would also end his efforts, he said, of helping Opdyke reconcile herself with a Roman Catholic Church that “didn’t give her the comfort and honor she deserved during the darkest days of the Holocaust.”

Opdyke said that even though she had sex with the German officer to save her life as well as the lives of the Jews she had hidden, she was torn with guilt. Opdyke, who was 19 at the time, decided to consult a priest.

The priest--a young, inexperienced man, according to Opdyke--told her she was living in sin and risked losing her soul if she didn’t leave the officer. Opdyke said she was devastated, but chose not to follow his advice.

Contradicting Boinus, Opdyke said the experience did not shatter her faith in the church. Though not a devout Catholic, Opdyke said she goes to church on occasion and receives the sacraments.

“I needed help. I didn’t get it,” she said. “Do I blame the whole Catholic Church? No.”