‘Irena’s Vow’ inspired by true story of survival, sacrifice during WWII

Cate Marquis, Special to the Jewish Light

Published March 21, 2025

An inspiring true story of one young woman’s courage and resourcefulness in saving the lives of a group of Polish Jews in World War II is the basis of the historic drama “Irena’s Vow.”

Young Irena Gut (Sophie Nelisse) is a nurse from a prosperous Christian Polish family but everything in her world is swept away when the Germans invade her country. Witnessing a brutal killing by a Nazi officer, the devout Irena makes a vow that if she can do something to save a life, she will.

Her vow leads her to save more than one life. Because Irena is blonde and pretty — and has a German last name — the Nazis want to give her more favorable treatment. After they seize her family’s home and then sweep her up as forced labor, she despises them and resists this favoritism.

Although Irena is a nurse, the Nazis put her to work doing more menial tasks, like waiting tables. But she is hard-working, and soon the Nazis put her in charge of a charge of a group of Jewish prisoners. They are supposed to be tailors and are assigned to repair and alter clothes for German officers. However, they aren’t very good and kindly Irena eventually gets them to admit the truth, that they are musicians, college professors, and so forth, with not a tailor among them.

When Irena catches the eye of a high-ranking Nazi officer (Dougray Scott) looking for someone to run his household in the country mansion he commandeered from a Jewish family, resourceful Irena sees an opportunity. She finds a way to smuggle her group of Jews out to the large house outside town, saving them from being deported. She sets them up in the mansion, with only her and the German officer, who is often gone, traveling to do his work.

Irena’s own kindness and resourcefulness seems to encourage the people she is hiding, and soon they begin to take charge of their own fate, even sometimes coming to the rescue of their rescuer.

The English-language film is inspired by a true story, although it has been fictionalized. The film is beautifully shot and well acted, with a very polished look. The story is suspenseful and there are plentiful twists as they elude detection while under the Nazis’ very noses.