Władysław Szpilman was a Polish pianist. He became widely known as the protagonist of the film “The Pianist”, which is based on his memoir of the same name recounting how he survived the Holocaust.
Władysław Szpilman began his study of the piano at the Chopin School of Music in Warsaw, Poland then later went to the Academy of Arts in Berlin, Germany in 1931. After Adolf Hitler seized power in Germany in 1933, he returned to Warsaw, where he quickly became a celebrated pianist and composer of both classical and popular music.
Wladyslaw Szpilman and his family, along with all other Jews living in Warsaw, were forced to move into a “Jewish District” known as the Warsaw Ghetto on October 31, 1940. Once all the Jews were confined within the ghetto, a wall was constructed to separate them from the rest of the city. Within the ghetto Szpilman had to work in order to support his family which included his mother, father, brother Henryk, and two sisters Regina and Halina.
Szpilman died on July 6, 2000 at age 88.
Listen carefully to his playing the music of Chopin:
