KRAKOW Honors SPIELBERG

(From The Hartford Courant -- By Pat Seremet)

The city of KRAKOW, POLAND, has recognized STEVEN SPIELBERG for donating $40,000 to preserve a pharmacy in the former ghetto where he filmed much of his OSCAR-WINNING SCHINDLER'S LIST.

Spielberg was named a prestigious PATRON OF CULTURE for 2004 in a ceremony Tuesday.

At the former POD ORLEM PHARMACY, owner TADEUSZ PANKIEWICZ, the only NON-JEW who remained in the ghetto during the entire NAZI occupation, provided food and medicine to JEWS and helped some escape.

"We are trying now to revitalize OLD JEWISH DISTRICTS in Krakow where people lived before the war," SZATANIK said.

Director ROMAN POLANSKI, a survivor of Krakow's ghetto, also has donated to the preservation of the pharmacy, which was converted into a museum in 1983.