Page "Władysław Szpilman" Paragraph 9

As vividly described in his memoir, in February 1944 Szpilman found places to hide in Warsaw and survived with the help of his friends from Polish Radio and fellow musicians such as Andrzej Bogucki and his wife Janina.

In November 1944, Szpilman was hiding out in an abandoned building at 223 Niepodległości Avenue when he was found by a German officer.

Surprisingly, the officer did not kill Szpilman, but instead after finding out that he was a pianist, asked Szpilman to play for him on a piano they had found.

Szpilman played Chopin's Ballade No. 1 Op. 23.

After that, the officer showed Szpilman a better place to hide and brought him bread and jam on numerous occasions.

He also offered Szpilman one of his coats to keep warm in the freezing temperatures.

Szpilman did not identify the German officer until 1950.

His name was Captain Wilm Hosenfeld.

Despite the efforts of Szpilman and the Poles to rescue Hosenfeld, he died in a Soviet Prisoner of War camp in 1952.