The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45
by Władysław Szpilman, Anthea Bell
The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 by Władysław Szpilman, Anthea Bell holds a highly rated rating of 4.24 out of 5, based on 43.6K reader ratings. First published in 1946. The book spans 222 pages.
About The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45
The last live broadcast on Polish Radio, on September 23, 1939, was Chopin's Nocturne in C# Minor, played by a young pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman, until his playing was interrupted by German shelling. It was the same piece and the same pianist, when broadcasting was resumed six years later. The Pianist is Szpilman's account of the years inbetween, of the death and cruelty inflicted on the Jews of Warsaw and on Warsaw itself, related with a dispassionate restraint borne of shock. Szpilman, now 88, has not looked at his description since he wrote it in 1946 (the same time as Primo Levi's If This Is A Man?; it is too personally painful. The rest of us have no such excuse. Szpilman's family were deported to Treblinka, where they were exterminated; he survived only because a music-loving policeman recognised him. This was only the first in a series of fatefully lucky escapes that littered his life as he hid among the rubble and corpses of the Warsaw Ghetto, growing thinner and hungrier, yet condemned to live. Ironically it was a German officer, Wilm Hosenfeld, who saved Szpilman's life by bringing food and an eiderdown to the derelict ruin where he discovered him. Hosenfeld died seven years later in a Stalingrad labour camp, but portions of his diary, reprinted here, tell of his outraged incomprehension of the madness and evil he witnessed, thereby establishing an effective counterpoint to ground the nightmarish vision of the pianist in a desperate reality. Szpilman originally published his account in Poland in 1946, but it was almost immediately withdrawn by Stalin's Polish minions as it unashamedly described collaborations by Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Poles and Jews with the Nazis. In 1997 it was published in Germany after Szpilman's son found it on his father's bookcase. This admirably robust translation by Anthea Bell is the first in the English language. There were 3,500,000 Jews in Poland before the Nazi occupation; after it there were 240,000. Wladyslaw Szpilman's extraordinary account of his own miraculous survival offers a voice across the years for the faceless millions who lost their lives. --David Vincent
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Author | Władysław Szpilman, Anthea Bell |
| Published | 1946 |
| Pages | 222 |
| Genres | Non-Fiction, History, Biography & Memoir, Biography & Memoir, Classics |
| Average Rating | 4.24 / 5.00 |
| Total Ratings | 43,578 |
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Frequently Asked Questions
What genre is The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45?
The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 is categorized as Non-Fiction, History, Biography & Memoir, Biography & Memoir. Its primary genre classification is Biography & Memoir.
Is The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 worth reading?
Based on 43.6K reader ratings, The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 has an average score of 4.24 out of 5.00, which is considered "Highly Rated."
How many pages is The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45?
The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 has 222 pages.
Who wrote The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45?
The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 was written by Władysław Szpilman, Anthea Bell. It was first published in 1946.
What is the ISBN for The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45?
The ISBN-13 for The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 is 9780575067080.0.
Data sourced from community book ratings and reviews. Last updated: April 15, 2026
