Posted on 04/09/2007 10:38:10 AM PDT by lizol
Polish Holocaust heroine in Hollywood movie
By Borys Kit Mon Apr 9, 12:00 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A Polish World War Two heroine whose efforts to save about 2,500 Jewish children were largely covered up after the war, will finally have her story brought to the screen.
Irena Sendler was a Polish social worker who smuggled children out of the Warsaw ghetto. She kept track of them, as well as their original and new identities, with names hidden in jars. She was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo, tortured and sentenced to death but was saved on the way to her execution. She then continued her work while in hiding.
Now 97, Sendler has sold her life rights to producers Jeff Rice and Jeff Most, who also secured the motion picture rights to her biography, Muza Publishing's "Irena Sendler: The Mother of the Holocaust Children."
Rice and Most have hired Lawrence Spagnola to write the script, and intend to take it out to studios after a preliminary draft is completed. Most was a producer on "The Crow" movie series, while Rice is a producer on the upcoming Jessica Simpson movie "Blonde Ambition."
Most came across Sendler's story more than a year ago when he read an e-mail that was making the rounds. It took him that long to secure the rights.
"She's still sharp as a tack," he said.
Most said Sendler was not very well known because after the war, under Soviet influence, there was a stigma attached to those who successfully fought off occupiers. "She didn't want her daughter to be threatened by the Soviets," Most said. "After the collapse of the Iron Curtain, she was more open about it."
At first only recognized by the children she had saved, the rest of the world eventually caught onto her story, and Sendler was recently nominated for a Nobel Peace prize.
Most and Spagnola traveled to Poland in February to meet with Sendler and tour the areas where she lived and worked.
"It's one of the great untold stories from that time, and it's a reaffirming story that crosses religious lines. I don't know of another story like this," Most said.
Ping
Perhaps if their parents had possessed the means to resist, this tragedy might have been averted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg9q9sxJFnA
Splendid news! I first heard of this brave lady from threads posted on FR, when she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, may she receive the recognition that she deserves.
“..when she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Did it have to take this long for her to get nominated while clowns like Arafat and Carter got it in a matter of years?
Just heard she has passed away. A true hero. RIP.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.