Los Angeles, Calif. (PMN)—A TV movie about the life of Holocaust hero Irena Sendler, who died May 12, 2008, at age 98 in Poland, is being readied for production and will air next season on CBS. "The Irena Sendler Story" is based on an authorized biography of the woman credited with rescuing some 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto. Sendler, a social worker in Poland when Nazi Germany invaded in 1939, devised risky rescue operations to save Jewish children, some of whom were smuggled out in baskets.

The film is in pre-production and will be filmed in Poland. Hallmark Hall of Fame, the movie’s producer, said it acquired movie rights to the book and struck a deal with Sendler and her family in 2007.

John Kent Harrison, who became familiar with Sendler’s bravery while in Poland three years ago filming a CBS miniseries about Pope John Paul II, wrote the script for the Sendler film and will direct.

The movie is drawn from the 2005 book "Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story," written by Anna Mieszkowska.

New York (PMN)—"Nowhere else is Holocaust history as distorted and misrepresented as it is about Poland." That disturbing fact is the main reason Michael Preisler, a Polish Catholic survivor of Auschwitz, does not allow himself to stop his nearly thirty-year crusade to see that the American people are told the truth about the Holocaust.

Now, as co-chair of the Holocaust Documentation Committee of the Polish American Congress (PAC), he has gone one step further. Thanks to generous donations from individuals who are just as concerned about Holocaust dishonesty as he is, Preisler’s committee announced on May 5, 2008, that it has purchased a thousand copies of Arthur Hempel’s "Poland in World War II."

He intends to use the books to fill what he calls a "gaping hole" in the average American's understanding of the Holocaust and the brutal terror the Germans used against the people of Poland. It did not take long to find someone with this gaping hole and in "dire need" of one of his books. To his astonishment, it happened to be a Catholic publication from Toronto, Canada, the Catholic Register, "which should have known better," and revealed a "deplorable misunderstanding of the most basic facts of World War II history."

Instead of reporting that Poland became the first victim of Nazi Germany when Hitler invaded in 1939 to start the war, the Register wrote that Poland actually sided with the Germans and the Nazis. Being a Catholic, Preisler was "disappointed" that a Catholic periodical would be so misinformed about a country as Catholic as Poland.

Washington, D.C. (PMN)—As part of a tour of the U.S., Sylwester Chruszcz, President of the League of Polish Families (LPR) political party, met with members of the Polish American community in Washington, D.C., on May 11, 2008. The meeting was sponsored by PoloniaCenter.org. A report from a leader of the Polonian organization appeared to share the positions promulgated by Chruszcz.

The LPR is a far-right party with strong religious and nationalist sentiments that was repudiated by Polish voters in the last parliamentary election. It has no seats in the Sejm [Lower House of Parliament].

Chruszcz, who is a Member of the European Parliament, pointed out the negative effects of European Union membership for Poland. He claimed that European Union (EU) imposed production limits are hurting Polish agriculture. Specifically, he noted that two modern Polish sugar plants will be forced to close and Polish fishermen have been forced to cut their cod fishing due to the limits. He added that many Polish dairy farmers are forced to destroy up to half the milk their cattle produce because of the limits, and would be fined if they did not do so. This last comment drew a negative reaction from some of the audience, who called the forced dumping of milk "sick." The crowd was apparently ignorant of the historical fact that similar practices have been adopted in the United States to raise the value of farm produce.

Responding to a question on gay marriage and abortion on demand, Chruszcz predicted that the EU will force the Polish Government to adopt these laws. He claimed that this would take place under the Lisbon Treaty, which goes into effect in January, 2009. In a further twist of the facts, Chruszcz stated that it will establish the EU’s courts as superior to Poland’s national courts.

He suggested that it would only be a matter of time before a court decision would force "homosexual marriage" and abortion on demand on Poland. The apparently conservative audience responded negatively to this statement, many in the crowd calling on Poland to defend its national sovereignty and Catholic values. One participant who apparently accepted the dire predictions made by Chruszcz, commented, "It looks like it’s a choice of being in the European Union or of being Catholic." Another responded, "In that case, it’s better to be Catholic."

Chicago (PMN)—The Polish Museum of America (PMA) will hold its Annual Summer Ball and Silent Auction at the Wyndham O'Hare Hotel, Des Plaines, Ill., on Friday, June 20, 2008. This year, the Museum honors Polish and Polish American Veterans organizations with the 2008 Polish Spirit Award in recognition of the service they have given to our two great nations.

The Summer Ball is the PMA’s largest yearly fundraising event, with all proceeds benefiting the Museum. Established in Chicago in 1935, the PMA remains the nation’s largest institution of its kind, dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Polish and Polish American culture through a wide variety of educational programs and exhibitions. In addition, the Museum includes a library, valuable archives and priceless artifacts, which serve s researchers seeking knowledge about the history of Poles in the United States and throughout the world.

The 2008 Summer Ball program book will be particularly significant, because a special section will be devoted to honoring and memorializing service men and service women and will include their name, rank, branch of service and the war or conflict in which he or she served.

Veterans groups have been honored by various institutions over the years. However, after considering the sacrifices made by all Polish and Polish American veterans on behalf of our nations, the PMA feels that as a cultural institution dedicated to preserving Polish and Polish American history, it would be a disservice to our mission not to honor all veterans.

For more information about the Ball, call Jenny Crissey at (773) 782-2605.

Brooklyn, N.Y. (PMN)—To encourage their participation in the upcoming presidential election, the Polish American Congress (PAC) took its 2008 Voter Registration Drive to Williamsburg and the members of Our Lady of Consolation Church.

Members of the committee, Chris Rybkiewicz (left) who heads the registration unit and Frank Milewski (center), President of the PAC’s Downstate N.Y. Division helped the parishioners complete their Board of Elections registration forms.

As they arrived in New York's Ellis Island at the start of the 20th Century, many of the immigrants from Eastern Europe chose to settle in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Among them were the Poles who made their parish church, Our Lady of Consolation on Metropolitan Avenue, the center of their communal life. They slowly applied for U.S. citizenship and became part of the democratic process as they went to the polls and voted.

Another wave of Polish immigrants came to Williamsburg at the end of World War II after Nazi Germany destroyed Poland and left it in the hands of the Communists. Still more arrived during the time of the Solidarity movement of the 1980s and the clashes with the Marxist regime which Moscow imposed on Poland.

"Having lived for many years under Communist repression and the German occupation, many of the Poles who become American citizens understand and appreciate their right to vote in free and democratic elections," said Rybkiewicz.

New Britain, Conn. (PMN)—A gala evening of popular Polish music that included authentic costumes and lavish sets was staged on May 15, 2008 at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). The program included an English narration, designed to make the production more accessible to non-Polish speaking audience members. It was free and open to the public.

Presented by the S.A. Blejwas Chair in Polish and Polish-American Studies as part of the Annual Godlewski Evening of Polish Culture Series, the CCSU performance was produced by the Polish Theater Institute. It was titled "The Shop of Songs" ["Kram z Piosenkami"].

The ambitious and rarely staged production traces Polish music through several centuries and has been described as "a tour of Polish popular culture in song and music."