Marian P. Opala

Marian Peter Opala (January 20, 1921 – October 11, 2010) was a Polish-American lawyer and jurist who served as a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court from 1978 to 2010. Opala was appointed to the state's highest court in 1978 by Governor David Boren. Prior to his appointment as a Supreme Court Justice, Opala served the State of Oklahoma in various positions, including Assistant County Attorney for Oklahoma County, Administrative Director of the Oklahoma State Court System, and as a judge on the Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Court. Early life and World War II service Opala was born in Łódź, Poland, the son of a prominent banker. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Opala, then a university student, enlisted in the Polish Army, and following Poland's defeat by Nazi Germany, joined the Polish Underground. In 1941 he escaped Poland via Turkey on the orders of his superiors in order to meet with Polish troops enlisted in the British Army in Palestine and Ethiopia to assure them that the struggle against the Nazi occupation was being waged vigorously at home with strong Allied support. After completing his mission, he served briefly with Polish troops in Italy and then parachuted back into Poland to resume his duties with the Polish Underground. Capture and subsequent liberation In 1944 Opala was captured by German forces in the Warsaw Uprising and held in Flossenbürg concentration camp in Bavaria. After his liberation by the U.S. Army in 1945, he was befriended by Gene Warr, a captain in the 45th Infantry Division from Oklahoma City. Opala confided in Warr that he could not return to Poland after the Communist takeover and would probably settle somewhere in the British Commonwealth. U.S. immigration and education Captain Warr helped Opala get a job as a translator for U.S. forces in Occupied Germany, and offered to help him immigrate to the United States. With Warr's assistance, Opala settled in Oklahoma City in 1947; he became a United States citizen six years later. He graduated from Oklahoma City University (OCU) with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1953 and a bachelor's degree in law in 1957. In 1968, he obtained a master's degree in law from New York University Law School. In 1981, OCU awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree.