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.

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

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

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.

Szpilman and his family were fortunate to live in the small ghetto, which was less crowded and dangerous than the other.

After much effort, Szpilman managed to extract from him a promise that Henryk would be home by that night, which he was.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

But before his death, in the winter of 1942, Zyskind supplied Szpilman with the latest news from outside the ghetto, received via radio.

After hearing this news and completing whatever other business he had in the large ghetto, Szpilman would head back to his house in the small ghetto.

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.

Through Majorek, Szpilman managed to arrange his escape from the ghetto.

On February 13, 1943, Szpilman slipped through the ghetto gate and met up with his friend Andrzej Bogucki on the other side.

Szpilman and his family did not yet need to find a new residence, as their apartment was already in the ghetto area.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Szpilman only stayed in his first hiding place for a few days before he moved on.

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.

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.

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

Some days later, Szpilman searched the building for food.

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 ).

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.