A Catholic nurse, a Nazi officer, and Jews in the basement: ‘Irena’s Vow’

Like all such movies, this fact-based account of a Polish Catholic nurse boldly hiding Jews under the nose of a Nazi officer challenges us to ask ourselves what we would do—with a twist or two.

Note: “Irena’s Vow” is streaming via Hoopla and available for rental and purchase via Prime Video, Apple TV, and other services.

The traditional Catholic view of the Eighth Commandment, championed by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and affirmed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is that lying is never permissible, full stop. Among various challenges to this teaching in its full rigor, few have had quite the sticking power of the “Nazi at the door, Jews in the basement” scenario: Can it be permissible to lie to Nazis to save Jews from genocide?

Irena’s Vow, based on a true story, goes two steps further. First, the scenario here is “Jews in the basement, Nazi in the master bedroom.” I don’t know how many people from Poland, the Netherlands and elsewhere have been accounted “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, for seeking to hide Jews in their houses from the Nazis—but there can’t be many who dared to hide Jews in the basement of a villa under the nose of the Nazi officer occupying the villa.

Second, “Irena’s Vow” builds to a morally charged crisis some may find more challenging than the one about lying: Can it be permissible not to resist a sexual assault by a Nazi to save Jews from genocide?

Full review at The Catholic Spirit…