In The Pianist, Szpilman describes a newspaper article that appeared in October 1940: A little while later the only Warsaw newspaper published in Polish by the Germans provided an official comment on this subject: not only were the Jews social parasites, they also spread infection.

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, 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.

By October 14 Szpilman and the German army were all but the only humans still living in Warsaw, which had been completely destroyed by the Germans.

From then on, Szpilman decided to stay hidden on the roof every day, only coming down at dusk to search for food.

It was the only multi-story building in the area and, as was now his custom, Szpilman made his way up to the attic.

So Szpilman stayed in his building.

The book is written in the first person as the memoir of Szpilman.

In the introduction to its first edition Jerzy Waldorff informed that he wrote " as closely as he could " the story told to him by Szpilman, and that he used his brief notes in the process.

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 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.

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.

When he eventually reached the hospital, Szpilman collapsed onto the floor in the first available area and fell asleep.

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 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.

The first Sopot festival was initiated and organised in 1961 by Władysław Szpilman, assisted by Szymon Zakrzewski from Polish Artists Management ( PAGART ).

As soon as he saw Szpilman coming, Bogucki turned away and began to walk towards the hiding place they had arranged for him.

While he was hiding in the city, Szpilman had to move many times from flat to flat.

During the months that Szpilman spent in hiding, he came extremely close to suicide on several occasions, but never had to carry out his plans.

Szpilman continued to live in his various hiding places until August 1944.

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.

The officer went with Szpilman to take a look at his hiding place.

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.

Szpilman remained in the Warsaw Ghetto until it was abolished after the deportation of most of its inhabitants in April-May 1943 and went into hiding.

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

Some people were hiding in the remnants of the city, e. g. Władysław Szpilman, who later wrote his memoir The Pianist, filmed by Roman Polanski ( The Pianist, 2002 ).

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.

When Szpilman and Lendicki returned to the place where the POW camp had been, it was no longer there.

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

On December 4, 2011, a commemorative plaque in Polish and English was unveiled at 223 Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw, the place where Hosenfeld discovered Szpilman, in the presence of Hosenfeld's daughter Jorinde.

Because of Stalinist cultural policy, and the ostensibly " grey areas " in which Szpilman ( Waldorff ) asserted that not all Germans were bad and not all of the oppressed were good, the actual book remained sidelined for more than 50 years.

Upon his return to Warsaw, Szpilman worked as a pianist for Polish Radio until the German invasion of Poland in 1939.

Again, the experience of those in the bigger ghetto is best described by Szpilman: Dozens of beggars lay in wait for this brief moment of encounter with a prosperous citizen, mobbing him by pulling at his clothes, barring his way, begging, weeping, shouting, threatening.

After six days searching and deal making, Szpilman managed to procure six work certificates, enough for his entire family.

These months were long and boring for Szpilman.

However, on August 12, 1944, the German search for the culprits behind the rebellion reached Szpilman ’ s building.

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.

Some days later, Szpilman searched the building for food.

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 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.

The idea for the performance was originally conceived by the pianist, Mikhail Rudy, who gained the backing of Andrzej Szpilman ( Władysław Szpilman's son ).

Szpilman was left in the ghetto as a laborer and helped smuggle in weapons for the coming Jewish resistance uprising.

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.

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

In March 1999 Władysław Szpilman visited London for Jewish Book Week, where he met English readers to mark the publication of his bestselling book in England.

Other CDs with the works of Szpilman include Works for Piano and Orchestra by Władysław Szpilman with Ewa Kupiec ( piano ), John Axelrod ( director ), and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra ( 2004 ) ( Sony BMG ) and the Original recordings of The Pianist and Władysław Szpilman-Legendary recordings ( Sony classical ).

When not touring or building pianos, he has been editing piano editions of the works of Władysław Szpilman for Boosey and Hawkes and wrote a piece on aesthetics, which was published in Poland in March 2005.

He helped to hide or rescue several Poles, including Jews, in Nazi-occupied Poland, and is perhaps most remembered for helping Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman to survive, hidden, in the ruins of Warsaw during the last months of 1944.