U. S.

History 11 (H) Shames Radi

Mr. Clark March 18, 2014
The Pianist
Describe what happened to Szpilman during the German occupation of Poland.
Wadysaw Szpilman and every other Jew were exploited and treated poorly by the
Germans. It starts out with simple things like no being able to go to parks and certain public
places, and the Nazis stop them from owning their own businesses and working. The Germans
also humiliate Jews by having them wear the Star of David armband. Szpilman soon gets forced
out of his own house with his family and they are sent to the Warsaw Ghetto (which is
overloaded with very poor and unsanitary conditions). Szpilmans family is sent to extermination
camp but Wladysalw is saved by a member the Jewish Ghetto Police.
Explain what he lost.
Szpilman loses many things/individuals throughout the film. He loses his job as a piantist
first then he loses his piano so he can no longer play it. He loses his girlfriend which he seemed
very much attached to. Szpilman loses his family after they are sent to an extermination camp
and he is left behind. I could even argue that he loses his sanity at some parts of the film when he
is playing the piano in the air because he is alone for so much time. Wadysaw also loses his
watch after he gives it to the man that was supposedly helping him and the man never comes
back.
ID what shocked or surprised you most in this film.
The violence in this film shocked me a lot. I was not gory but it was disturbing. A scene
that bothered me a lot was when the Nazis threw the man on the wheel chair from the balcony,
which was cruel and unexpected. Another scene that was not as disturbing but one that made me
feel bad was the scene with the old lady and she is carrying some food she has (looks like some
kind of soup) and another man pulls it away from her and the whole thing falls on the ground.
The man does not just leave it he licks it off the ground and the expression of despair on the
womans face is haunting.
Clearly explain what this film says about victims and perpetuators of the Holocaust.
In my opinion this film breaks many stereotypes about Nazis. Nazis are all seen as
merciless killers but in this film, some Nazis are good. An example of that would be Wehrmacht
officer Wilm Hosenfeld, who saves Szpilmans life when he could have easily killed him. Jews
in this film are average everyday people, who most people can relate to. When they are seen
tortured it bring us grief to know that this in not only a movie but this happened before and was
probably worse than what the movie showed.