Ina Benita

Who was Ina Benita?

Ina Benita in Kiev, Ukraine, then in Russian Empire was a popular Polish actress of the interwar period. Her real name was Janina Ferow-Bułhak, and most probably, Benita came from an ethnic Polish family, which had forcibly been deported to Siberia by the Tsarist regime, and then returned to Eastern Europe.

In 1920 the future actress, together with family, came to Second Polish Republic. After a few years, some time in the late 1920s, Benita left for Paris, where she studied acting. After return to Poland, she continued her education in Warsaw. Ina debuted on stage on August 29, 1931, at Warsaw Theatre “Nowy Ananas”, in a show “Paradise for Men”. One year later she debuted in Ryszard Briske’s film “Wilderness”, and since then, she concentrated mainly on film productions. Benita, however, also appeared on stage, mostly in Warsaw’s revues, such as Cyrulik Warszawski, Wielka Rewia, and Ali Baba.

During World War II Benita played in German-sponsored theatres, which resulted in allegations of collaboration with the Nazis. At some point, she became a lover of a Wehrmacht officer from Austria, with whom she left for Vienna. The officer, accused of miscegenation, was sent to the Eastern Front, and the pregnant Benita returned to Warsaw, where she was sent to the Pawiak Prison, in which she gave birth to a son, Tadeusz Michał, born on April 8, 1944.