The Pianist

By: Terry Cornell

When writing a book review, I ask myself if the material is worthy enough to encourage others to read it. In this case, I wonder if I’m worthy enough to express the heart, tragedy, horror, and beauty of this classic Holocaust memoir. Its truths, both chilling and inspiring, make us question ourselves in an unsettled world.

In The Pianist, written in 1945 just after World War II, Wladyslaw Szpilman chronicles life and death in Warsaw during the German occupation. The book’s intensity makes it a surprisingly quick read. Szpilman, a Jewish concert pianist, had studied in Poland and Germany. When Adolf Hitler gained power, Szpilman returned to his native Poland and worked for Polish Radio until the German invasion. Szpilman was playing Chopin’s Lento con gran espressione when German bombs knocked Polish Radio off the air.

With a tone of detached understatement, Szpilman brings the reader into the Warsaw ghetto to experience mundane daily existence mixed with the monstrosity of Nazi atrocities. As the stranglehold of German control intensifies to the point of transporting Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp, we see ordinary people driven to desperation while trying to survive. Some collaborate with the Germans, hoping to postpone their demise. Others seem to meet death willingly at Treblinka, still hoping for a miracle. A comparative few try to fight back. Miraculously, Szpilman survives through luck, compassion from fellow Jews, Poles…and one German officer, Captain Wilm Hosenfeld. At the war’s end, Szpilman reopens Polish Radio playing the Chopin piece he was performing live when Warsaw fell.

Originally published in Poland in 1946 as Death of a City, the book was immediately withdrawn from circulation and suppressed by Communist authorities through the 1960s. In 1998, Szpilman’s son Andrezj republished it in German, and an English version soon followed. The book has now been published in more than 30 languages. The current edition includes a forward by Szpilman’s son, excerpts from the diary of Captain Hosenfeld and, most importantly, a fascinating epilogue by German poet Wolf Biermann, son of a resistance fighter and friend of Wladyslaw. This provides more information on the pianist’s later life and tells the incredible story of Captain Hosenfeld’s efforts to save Jews during the war.

Roman Polanski’s 2002 film, The Pianist, with an Oscar-winning portrayal of Szpilman by Adrien Brody, captures the essence of one man’s struggle to survive in the Warsaw ghetto. But Wladyslaw Szpilman’s powerful memoir provides a greater understanding of his experience and that of the heroic Captain Hosenfeld.

Before the German invasion of Poland, 3.5 million Jews lived there. Only 240,000 survived the Nazis. We see the Poles’ disbelief when the invasion starts, their hope for salvation crushed when France is defeated, and Polish Jews left at the mercy of a group of people who simply want them gone. If or when we’re faced with this kind of conflict in our world again, how will we react? Whether we are victims, bystanders, or part of the new regime, what will we, as individuals, do?