The pianist: the extraordinary true story of one man's survival in Warsaw, 1939-45

✍ Scribed by Hosenfeld, Wilm;Szpilman, Władysław

• Publisher: Picador USA
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Edition: 1st ed
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Named one of the Best Books of 1999 by the Los Angeles Times, The Pianist is now a major motion picture directed by Roman Polanski and starring Adrien Brody (Son of Sam). The Pianist won the Cannes Film Festival's most prestigious prize--the Palme d'Or.

On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside--so loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air.

Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. In the end, his life was saved by a German officer who heard him play the same Chopin Nocturne on a piano found among the rubble. Written immediately after the war and suppressed for decades, The Pianist is a stunning testament to human endurance and the redemptive power of fellow feeling.

✦ Subjects

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Warsaw;Jewish musicians;Jewish musicians--Poland--Warsaw;Jews;Jews--Poland--Warsaw;Biographies;Personal narratives;Biography;Szpilman, Władysław;Jews -- Poland -- Warsaw -- Biography;Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Poland -- Warsaw -- Personal narratives;Jewish musicians -- Poland -- Warsaw -- Biography;Warsaw (Poland) -- Biography;Poland -- Warsaw