Wladyslaw Szpilman played his piano on September 23, 1939, the day Nazi Germany invaded Poland. The Second World War is a horrible chapter in world history that determined the survival of many Polish citizens. Wladyslaw Szpilman was able to live his life both before and after the German invasion with music.

The Szpilman family lived in an upper class Jewish Warsaw neighborhood during the middle of the twentieth century. The Szpilman's were well educated and respected in their neighborhood. The eldest Szpilman played the violin while the other children worked in town as lawyers or teachers. Music was always heard in the house. Wladyslaw and his father were professional musicians. In an ironic twist, the younger Szpilman learned to play the piano in pre-Nazi Germany.

Wladyslaw could be heard playing his music on the Polish radio station. The radio station was not run by the oppressed Jewish majority. The German...