Szpilman ’ s family ( he was living with his parents, his brother Henryk and his sisters Regina and Halina ) were amongst those who did not.

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 ’ s family was lucky to already be living in the ghetto area when the plans were announced.

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.

Soon after they arrived, Szpilman ’ s family was reunited.

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.

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.

Although after this disappointment Szpilman did everything in his power to find the officer, it took him five years even to discover his name, Wilm Hosenfeld.

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 did not identify the German officer until 1950.

When Szpilman resumed his job at Polish Radio in 1945, he did so by carrying on where he left off six years before: poignantly, he opened the first transmission by once again playing Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor ( Lento con gran espressione ), the piece he was playing as the German bombs hit the studios of Polish Radio, interrupting its broadcast on 23 September 1939.

Whenever he went into the large ghetto, Szpilman would visit a friend, Jehuda Zyskind, who worked as a smuggler, trader, driver or carrier when the need arose.

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.

Szpilman had little to offer the officer by way of thanks, but told him that if he should ever need help, that he should ask for the pianist Szpilman of the Polish radio.

Still, Szpilman made his way to the building and, amongst a crowd of prisoners being herded into captivity, managed to find the deputy director of the labour bureau.

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.

When, again, he went searching for food and drink, Szpilman managed to find some crusts of bread to eat and a fire bucket full of water.

So, at great risk, Szpilman came down from the attic to find a working oven in one of the flats.

He helped Szpilman find a ladder amongst the apartments and helped him climb up into the loft.

Whilst doing this new work, Szpilman was permitted to go out into the Gentile side of Warsaw.

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.

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.

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.

Szpilman describes their last moments together before the train arrived: At one point a boy made his way through the crowd in our direction with a box of sweets on a string round his neck.

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.

Władysław Szpilman started playing for Polish Radio in 1935 as their house pianist.

Szpilman's son, Andrzej Szpilman, had long called for Yad Vashem to recognize Wilm Hosenfeld as a Righteous Among the Nations, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.

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 >

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.

But also, Majorek was a link to Szpilman ’ s Polish friends and acquaintances on the outside.

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.

Now, Szpilman was resigned to dying.