Help


[permalink] [id link]
+
Page "The Pianist (memoir)" ¶ 11
from Wikipedia
Edit
Promote Demote Fragment Fix

Some Related Sentences

Szpilman and
In 1998, Szpilman s son Andrzej Szpilman republished the memoir of his father s, first in German as Das wunderbare Überleben (" The Miraculous Survival ") and then in English as The Pianist.
Szpilman s family ( he was living with his parents, his brother Henryk and his sisters Regina and Halina ) were amongst those who did not.
They hid their money in the window frame, an expensive gold watch under their cupboard and the watch s chain beneath the fingerboard of Szpilman s father s violin.
To avoid the concentration camps, rich, intellectual Jews like Szpilman s family and many of his acquaintances could pay to have poorer Jews deported in their place.
Szpilman played piano at an expensive café which pandered to the ghetto s upper class, made up largely of smugglers and other war profiteers, and their wives or mistresses.
As soon as he heard the news of his brother s arrest, Szpilman went to the labour bureau building, determined to secure Henryk s release.
But, on 16 August 1942, Szpilman s luck ran out.
Soon after they arrived, Szpilman s family was reunited.
Szpilman was horrified and angered by his siblings headstrong decision, and only accepted their presence after his appeal to the guards had failed to secure their release.
At around this time, the Germans in charge of Szpilman s group decided to allow each man five kilograms of potatoes and a loaf of bread every day, to make them feel more secure under the Germans ; fears of deportation had been running at especially high levels since the last selection.
But also, Majorek was a link to Szpilman s Polish friends and acquaintances on the outside.
However, on August 12, 1944, the German search for the culprits behind the rebellion reached Szpilman s building.
All of the floors below Szpilman s were burnt out to varying degrees, and Szpilman left the building to escape the poisonous smoke that filled all the rooms.
Food and drink were scarce in the hospital, and for the first four or five days of his stay in the building, Szpilman couldn t find anything.
Szpilman describes the scene :< p > I played Chopin s Nocturne in C sharp minor.
Inspecting the attic thoroughly, he found a loft above the attic that Szpilman hadn t noticed as it was in a gloomy area of the roof.
So Szpilman came slowly down the stairs, shouting “ Don t shoot!

Szpilman and family
Szpilman and his family were fortunate to live in the small ghetto, which was less crowded and dangerous than the other.
After six days searching and deal making, Szpilman managed to procure six work certificates, enough for his entire family.
Szpilman describes his last moments with his family :< p > By the time we had made our way to the train the first trucks were already full.
Szpilman never saw any members of his family again.
Szpilman and his family did not yet need to find a new residence, as their apartment was already in the ghetto area.
Władysław Szpilman and his family, along with all other Jews living in Warsaw, were forced to move into a " Jewish District "— the Warsaw Ghetto — on 31 October 1940.
Szpilman managed to find work as a musician to support his family which included his mother, father, brother Henryk, and two sisters, Regina and Halina.
Along with him, the Szpilman family and thousands of others asked that Hosenfeld be honoured in this way for his acts of kindness throughout the war.

Szpilman and was
Szpilman was not a writer, according to his own son Andrzej.
The latest edition was slightly expanded by Andrzej Szpilman himself and printed under a different title, The Pianist.
In 2002, Roman Polanski directed a screen version, also called The Pianist, but Szpilman died before the film was completed.
In his memoir, Szpilman describes one of these forays: One day when I was walking along beside the wall I saw a childish smuggling operation that seemed to have reached a successful conclusion.
After much effort, Szpilman managed to extract from him a promise that Henryk would be home by that night, which he was.
Here, Szpilman !’ A hand grabbed me by the collar, and I was flung back and out of the police cordon .</ p >
Whilst doing this new work, Szpilman was permitted to go out into the Gentile side of Warsaw.
After his work on the wall Szpilman survived another selection in the ghetto and was sent to work on many different tasks, such as cleaning out the yard of the Jewish council building.
Eventually, Szpilman was posted to a steady job as “ storeroom manager .” In this position, Szpilman organised the stores at the SS accommodation, which his group was preparing.
Szpilman followed, careful not to reveal himself as Jewish ( Szpilman had prominent Jewish features ) by straying into the light of a street lamp while a German was passing.
While he was hiding in the city, Szpilman had to move many times from flat to flat.
From the window of the flat in which he was hiding, Szpilman had a good vantage point from which to watch the beginnings of the rebellion.
Hiding in a predominantly German area, however, Szpilman was not in a good position to go out and join the fighting: first he would need to get past several units of German soldiers who were holding the area against the main power of the rebellion, which was based in the city centre.
Now, Szpilman was resigned to dying.

Szpilman and already
Looking out the window minutes later, Szpilman saw that his building had been surrounded by troops and that they were already making their way in via the cellars.

Szpilman and be
Hidden inside his bags of food every day, Majorek would bring weapons and ammunition into the ghetto to be passed on to the resistance by Szpilman and the other workers.
If he were ever discovered and unable to escape, Szpilman planned to commit suicide so that he would be unable to compromise any of his helpers under questioning.
Szpilman, hiding in his flat on the fourth floor, could only hope that the flats on the first floor were the only ones that were burning and that he would be able to escape the flames by staying high.
The officer left Szpilman with food and drink and with a German Army great coat, so he would be warm while he foraged for food until the Soviets arrived.
Szpilman, wishing to be friendly, came out of his hiding place and greeted one of these civilians, a woman carrying a bundle on her back.

0.098 seconds.