The Pianist

Władysław stays in the Bogucki apartment for two weeks and then moves in with an engineer affiliated with Polish Radio. There, he touches a keyboard for the first time in seven months. He then goes to stay in the spare flat of Czeslaw Lewicki, a conductor and former colleague at the radio station. He remains there through June 1943 and notes, “I felt I was in paradise” (135). At first, Władysław spends all day in the bathroom, hoping to remain hidden, in case the Germans search the flat. When it becomes apparent that they are not, he moves more freely about the apartment, always taking care to be silent. Lewicki visits twice a week with food and news.

Władysław becomes depressed with the isolation and routine, but his spirits lift with the Allies’ victory in Africa. He also hears news of the continued Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto.

One day in June, Lewicki urges Władysław to leave the flat. The Gestapo has sealed up Lewicki’s own room and is certain to come looking for Władysław. Feeling unable to search for a new hiding place, Władysław decides to stay and constructs a noose for himself, choosing suicide over German capture.