CNN Presents Remembers Forgotten Soldiers of WWII

Rare Footage, Recollections Highlight Documentary about Polish Revolt Against Nazi Occupation

On the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landing, CNN premieres a groundbreaking documentary on a little-known chapter in the war.

Warsaw Rising: The Forgotten Soldiers of World War II tells the story of the Polish resistance and its 63-day battle against the nazi, a battle fought while the Western world celebrated the successful Allied landing at Normandy. Through interviews with survivors and use of rarely seen footage filmed by the Underground Army, CNN presents offers an unflinching look at how a country known as the "first ally" was abandoned in hours of need.

Warsaw Rising airs on Sunday, June 6, at 8 P.M. and 11 P.M. (ET) in conjunction with a special edition of people in the News that features four U.S. veterans who lived through the D-Day landing. People in the News. D-Day: a Call to Courage airs Sunday, June 6, at 7 p.m. (ET). Warsaw Rising re-airs on Saturday, June 12, at 8 P.M. and 11 P.M. (ET)

In summer of 1944, an underground army of ordinary citizens in Warsaw rose up against their Nazi occupiers in the belief that the D-day invasion in the west and Soviet advances in the east gave them a chance for freedom. Underground fighters, many them teenagers, fought with homemade weapons against a heavily fortified German army.

They believed the fight would last for only few days until the Allies could come to their aid. Instead they fought for 63 days alone.

"There was no sense of frustration and injustice that was quite, quite
strong" - said Zbigniew Brzezinski former National Security Advisor, whose relatives lived through the Nazi occupation in Poland.

When the Poles most needed allied help, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin refused to let his troops cross the Vistula River to aid the Poles in liberating Warsaw. And Poland's other allies, the United States and England, were reluctant to force the issue with Stalin. Unknown to Polish leaders and citizens at the time, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill had struck a deal with Stalin,
ceding him control over Central Europe in return for his help fighting the Germans.

In the end the Nazi slaughtered the Polish resistance and razed Warsaw. More than 200, 000 people died. Half million were driven out of the city. More than three quarters of the Underground Army had perished: many of the survivors ended up in Soviet prisons. Yet the story of this tragic loss received little attention.

"The story of the Warsaw Rising was largely forgotten" - said Kathy Slobogin, managing editor of CNN Presents. For the Allies it was an embarrassment, and for Soviets it was inconvenient. The Allies didn't even invite Underground soldiers to the post-war victory parades. There was no official monument to the fighters in Warsaw until 1989. Through Warsaw Rising we are hope the world will
start to remember.

In the words of those who survived it, Warsaw Rising relates remarkable stories of heroism and survival against the ads. A young tank commander captures a German tank and with it liberates a concentration camp, saving the lives of several hundred Jews slated for death. An underground soldier and female underground courier recount the tale of their 20-hour trek through the sewers the streets of Warsaw, waking through a river waste to escape the Nazis overhead.

The survivors of the little-known tragedy of the war finally tell their
story: The passion with which we participated in all those things was probably difficult to understand for people who never lost freedom -said Christine Jaroszewicz, a 19-year old fighter at the time. "We had this terrific faith we were going to bee free.

Warsaw Rising: The Forgotten Soldiers of World War II was reported by CNN correspondent David Ensor and produced by Khaty Slobogin. Brian Rokus was field producer. Cliff Hackel was the editor.

Selected CNN Presents programs will be aired as commercial-free classroom editions. For further information about and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to 15 cable and satellite television networks; two private place-based networks; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; eight Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site, and CNN Newsource, the world's most excessively syndicated news service.

Contact; Marca Battle, Atlanta, tel. 404-588-6510

Marea.battle@cnn.com