Click2Flicks - The Pianist: The Story Behind The Movie - Chapter 1 - Preface

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE PIANIST:</p> <p>THE STORY BEHIND THE MOVIE</b></font></p> <blockquote><font size="4">NOTE: THIS STORY INCLUDES UNSETTLING<br> DETAILS ABOUT WORLD WAR II</blockquote></font>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="#preface"><b>1. STORY PREFACE</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch2.htm">2. JEWS IN WARSAW</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch3.htm">3. THE LAST BROADCAST</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch4.htm">4. GERMANY INVADES POLAND</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch5.htm">5. WARSAW GHETTO</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="the_pianist_ch6.htm"><b>6. EVACUATION</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="the_pianist_ch7.htm"><b>7. "DESTROY THE GHETTO"</i></b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch8.htm">8. WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING</a></b></font> </td> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=311 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0 height="171"> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch9.htm">9. "THE WARSAW GHETTO IS NO MORE"</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch10.htm">10. DEATH OF WARSAW</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch11.htm">11. ALONE IN WARSAW</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch12.htm">12. WILM HOSENFELD</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch13.htm">13. HOSENFELD’S DIARY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch14.htm">14. THE REST OF THE STORY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="18" width="287"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="the_pianist_ch15.htm">15. USED AND RECOMMENDED SOURCES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><font size="3"><u><b><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></b></u></font></b></p> <div align=center><font face="Times New Roman" color="000000" size="3"><b><i>If we were going to be a labour force,<br> then what were these old people doing here?<br></i</b></b></i><br> Wladyslaw Szpilman<br> The Pianist<br><br></font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">It was a warm summer day (August 16, 1942) in Warsaw, Poland. Wladyslaw Szpilman, <a href="http://szpilman.net/Sp2.GIF" target="_blank"><b>with his parents</b></a> and one sister, had been “selected” as part of a labor force to be "resettled in the East."</p> <p>Waiting for transport to their <i>actual</i> destination - the Nazi concentration camp at <a href="http://www.juedisches-leben-in-breisach.de/Images/treblinka.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Treblinka</b></a> - Szpilman was shocked when he saw his brother and younger sister. They had not been selected but volunteered to leave Warsaw so they could remain with their family. It would prove to be a <a href="http://polandvisit.com/treblinka/photo.htm" target="_blank"><b>fatal</b></a> decision.</p> <p>When the train finally arrived, Szpilman - a <a href="http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00006JO9R.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" target="_blank"><b>concert pianist</b></a> - was pulled from the line of people walking to their fate. An unknown person, with the power to choose, literally flung him outside the cordon of police. Trying to break through, so he could rejoin his family, Wladyslaw heard the chiding words of a policeman:</p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>Go on, save yourself!</i></b></font></center> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">Instantly, Szpilman realized what would happen to everyone crammed inside the train’s cattle cars.</p> <p>Not long after, the pianist had a dream that confirmed his worst fears. Henryk, his brother, “appeared” to deliver a message:</p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>We are dead now.</i></b></font></center> </div> <p align="right"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="the_pianist_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/content/about_author.htm" target="_blank"><b>Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.</b></center></a></p><br> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>