In The Pianist begins in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of the Second World War,first introducing Wladyslaw (Wladek) Szpilman, who works as a pianist for the local radio. The Polish Army has been defeated in three weeks by the German Army and Szpilman's radio station is bombed while he plays live on the air. While evacuating the building he finds a friend of his who introduces him to his sister, Dorota. Szpilman is immediately attracted to her.
Wladyslaw returns home to find his parents and his brother and two sisters, packing to leave Poland. The family discusses the possibility of fleeing Poland successfully and they decide to stay. That night, they listen to the BBC and hear that Britain and France have declared war on Germany. The family celebrates, believing the war will end quickly once the Allies are able to engage Germany. …show more content…
Wladek meets with Dorota, who accompanies him around Warsaw to learn of the injustice Jewish people have to face under the new Nazi regime. Businesses that were once friendly to them now won't allow their patronage. Wladek's father is harshly forbidden to walk on the sidewalk in the city by two German officers; when he begins to protest, one of the men hits him in the face. The family soon has to move to the Jewish ghetto established by Nazi rule. The Holocaust is starting, and the family, though well-to-do before the war, is reduced to subsistence level, although they are still better off than many of their fellow Jews in the overcrowded, starving, pestilential
Wladyslaw returns home to find his parents and his brother and two sisters, packing to leave Poland. The family discusses the possibility of fleeing Poland successfully and they decide to stay. That night, they listen to the BBC and hear that Britain and France have declared war on Germany. The family celebrates, believing the war will end quickly once the Allies are able to engage Germany. …show more content…
Wladek meets with Dorota, who accompanies him around Warsaw to learn of the injustice Jewish people have to face under the new Nazi regime. Businesses that were once friendly to them now won't allow their patronage. Wladek's father is harshly forbidden to walk on the sidewalk in the city by two German officers; when he begins to protest, one of the men hits him in the face. The family soon has to move to the Jewish ghetto established by Nazi rule. The Holocaust is starting, and the family, though well-to-do before the war, is reduced to subsistence level, although they are still better off than many of their fellow Jews in the overcrowded, starving, pestilential