Wladyslaw Szpilman

Władysław Szpilman (December 5, 1911 – July 6, 2000) was a Polish pianist. He was born in Sosnowiec, Poland, to a family of Jewish origin. He died in Warsaw.

Władysław Szpilman worked as a pianist for the Polish radio in Warsaw until the German invasion of Poland 1939 reached Warsaw. With Nazi Germany establishing ghettos in the city, he was forced to move there with his family, and continued to work as a pianist in a restaurant. Szpilman remained in the ghetto until it was abolished after the holocaust of most of its inhabitants — Szpilman was left as labourer. Succeeding in fleeing and finding places to hide in Warsaw, he stayed there for the remainder of the war.

After the war Szpilman resumed his musical career in Poland, becoming one of the most prolific composers of Polish popular songs.

In 1945, shortly after the war's end, he wrote a memoir about his survival in Warsaw. He published the book in Poland, titled Śmierć Miasta ("Death of a City"). The published book was heavily censored by the Communist authorities who did not like its perspective on the war, and the number of copies printed was small.

in Warsaw

Szpilman's memoir was not reprinted for fifty years, until 1998 when it was published in English (and many other languages) as The Pianist. In 2002 it was made into a movie with the same name by Roman Polański.

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