The Pianist
I am so mad, I already wrote this whole post and was one second away from publishing it when Macromedia felt the need to close my browser window. I hate you Macromedia. I hate you Flash 7. I lost it all. And it was beautiful. And now I don’t know that I can get all of that back out of my head. I’m going to cry. Emailing them and telling them off didn’t help any. I guess I can try and remember…
If you’ve seen the movie, you need to read this book!
Wladyslaw Szpilman (1911-2000) was a pianist during WWII who’s only crime was being born a Jew. He lived in the Warsaw getto with his family and three siblings (two sisters, one brother), the family had lived in that section of Warsaw prior to it being made a getto. They lived there as best they could on small rations, few jobs, other horrible living conditions until they were deported. Two of the siblings had a chance to stay on work detail but left wanting to be with the rest of the family instead; the families being deported were told they were being moved elsewhere. As the families were being loaded into cattle cars, Szpilman was pulled out of the crowd at the last second by someone he knew and not allowed to reenter. His family was shipped to their deaths at Treblinka.
Over and over again I’ve read people saying that Szpilman was no writer, afterall, he was a pianist, his son, in the prolouge, even says this. I must disagree. Szpilman describes life in the getto and life in hiding quite vividly. He talks of his amazing circumstances, his thoughts of suicide, his wishing that he knew his little sister better… he said she was a mystery to him… and now he would never know.
It really is incredibly amazing the events that can be described as no less than miraculous that led to Szpilman’s victory over the Nazis: he was later able to get married, raise a family, and continue his career as a musician. Szpilman was pulled from the crowd being led to their deaths, a beating got him a better job out of the cold winter, the Nazi officer didn’t reach far enough into the bag to find the contraband, and on and on. Of course, the most amazing event is probably his discovery by the German Nazi officer who ended up bringing him food, newspapers, a coat, and other items that he very much needed especially at that time… and not just bread, but jam as well! If it had not been for this officer and his help (which included helping Szpilman hide and stay hidden in a building that was the Nazi headquarters), Szpilman’s life may have ended there.
This is a must read. Of course, I wouldn’t talk about it if it weren’t.
Read It!!!
More Info:
Szpilman.net - the official site for Szpilman, himself and therefore, I guess, the book
thepianist-themovie.com - claims to be an official site of the movie, not sure if it is because…
thepianistmovie.com - also says it’s official and the whois says it’s registered by Universal. Of course this is also the one that led to my browser being closed… and will not let me in with FireFox (says I have no Flash, liars) even though I KNOW I have been in before…
