Survival Analysis of Szpilman's The Pianist: Will to Live

Introduction

In Wladyslaw Szpilman's memoir The Pianist, the author details his account of survival in Nazi-occupied Warsaw and how he managed to endure the horrors and atrocities committed there during the seven years he writes about. There is no question that the life Szpilman was forced to live during the period from 1939 to 1945 was painful for him and for many others who were there as well.

However, Szpilman managed to survive the terror while many others succumbed to it and lost their lives. Many people wonder why, and they wonder how one man could be strong enough to live through such hardships while so many others did not. That is what this paper explores, with the goal of shedding new light on the subject.

For purposes of this analysis, no particular emphasis is placed on the evils of the occupation and evacuation. They are part of history, but the focus here is not on what Szpilman had to endure, but on what made him go on and endure it rather than succumb to the awful tortures that were frequently inflicted on him and many others. The paper discusses the factors and forces that Szpilman describes when accounting for his survival, so that an understanding of his desire to live — and the forces both internal and external that spared his life — can be more clearly examined.

Survival Circumstances Outside His Influence

One of the things outside of Szpilman's influence that still contributed to his survival was the help of other music lovers who repeatedly saved him from great peril. Often these people were Polish but not Jewish. They shared Szpilman's love of music, and so they helped him. They could not allow a fellow musician to go to his death, especially at the hands of the brutal Nazis, who had made it their mission to systematically eradicate the Jewish race from the earth (Szpilman, 2002).

Another circumstance that contributed to Szpilman's survival, yet was equally outside of his influence, was the kindness of one German officer who discovered Szpilman hiding in Warsaw late in his ordeal. The officer should have killed him, but instead brought him food and a quilt. To say that Szpilman was incredibly fortunate on that day would be an understatement. This was probably the only kind officer Szpilman ever encountered, yet his memoir does not reflect bitterness or hatred toward the Nazis as a whole (Frank, 2000). He regarded the German officer who helped him as the "only human being in a German uniform" he ever met, and he tried to learn what had become of the man. He eventually discovered that the German had been imprisoned by the Russians for sympathizing with the Jews and remained a prisoner until his death (Pleszczynski, 1999).

One of the biggest ways that Szpilman made it through the Nazi occupation was by using his music as an influence on others. There is a very dramatic scene in the book where he plays a Chopin nocturne for a Nazi officer. Because of the beauty with which Szpilman plays the piece, the officer decides to spare his life. That does not mean that his music gave him a free pass, but it did occasionally help him out of tight spots by speaking to others in a way that no words ever could. For a moment in time, while he played, there was no distinction between the Jews and the Nazis — they were all just people, if only for a brief while, sharing the moment and the music (Szpilman, 2002).

Conclusion

Frank, Michael. "No Why Here." Los Angeles Times. 16 January 2000.

Pleszczynski, Wladyslaw. "The Survivor From Warsaw." The Wall Street Journal. 2 September 1999.

Szpilman, Wladyslaw. 6 March 2002. Szpilman.net. 10 April 2003 <