A silver pocket watch, fountain pen and other items belonging to Polish Jewish composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, immortalized in
Roman Polanski's
The Pianist
, will go on sale next week in the Polish capital.
"
This watch and this pen bought during a trip to Paris in 1937 survived with him throughout the ghetto period, then accompanied him to the ruins of Warsaw,
" his son Andrzej, who has organized the auction with his brother Krzysztof.
Among the other objects that belonged to the Polish Jewish composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, silverware of all kinds.
JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP
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Renowned musician, Wladyslaw Szpilman, who died in 2000, gained worldwide notoriety thanks to the film
The Pianist
, produced in 2002 from his autobiographical book, published in about forty languages.
The watch, fountain pen, a Meisterstück from Montblanc, as well as a tie which is now in the Museum of the History of the Jews of Poland Polin are the only objects that belonged to Wladyslaw Szpilman to have survived the war. .
A symbolic watch
Like all Jews in Warsaw, the pianist and his family had to settle in 1940 in the Warsaw ghetto, created by the Germans.
Wladyslaw Szpilman survives by playing the piano in cafes that have remained open.
In 1942, members of his family were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp where they were murdered.
He himself is barely saved by a Jewish policeman.
An entire porcelain set is also part of the lot offered for sale by his sons Andrzej and Krzysztof Spilzman.
JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP
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After remaining in the ghetto for some time, before it was annihilated by the Germans, he managed to get out in 1943, just before the ghetto uprising and its bloody repression.
He survives the last two years of the conflict with the help of friends, tossed from one hiding place to another before landing in an empty apartment, where he will remain cut off from the world for long weeks, during the Warsaw Uprising, August to October 1944.
“
The watch, an Omega, had a special meaning for my father
,” explains his son.
“
My father wrote that he was going upstairs to find out what time it was because he lived in complete solitude and had lost all track of time.
This watch helped him endure the passage of time
, ”he adds, winding it up and bringing it to his ear to listen to its mechanism working.
The Omega watch and the Meisterstück by Montblanc are two of the centerpieces of this sale, estimated between 2,240 and 3,590 euros.
JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP
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The watch is mentioned in a poignant passage from the book.
When Wladyslaw Szpilman is discovered by a German officer, Wilm Hosenfeld, he asks him to play the piano for him.
The musician obeys and plays a piece by Chopin.
The officer then helps him survive by bringing him food.
“
To thank him, towards the end, my father wanted to give him this watch as a token of gratitude.
The German took offense and refused,
”explains Andrzej Szpilman.
For saving Wladyslaw Szpilman, among others, Wilm Hosenfeld was posthumously recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Yad Vashem Memorial in 2009.
Objects that bear witness to an era
For Renata Piatkowska, chief collections manager at the Polin museum, the objects on sale tell "
the story of her life, of her survival, of her miraculous rescue from the Holocaust
" but also "
the story of an entire people.
".
“
These objects are also important because Szpilman chose them, small and valuable, because they could guarantee his survival.
He could sell them, pay whistleblowers.
These objects could save her life,
”she explains.
The Steinway grand piano which belonged to Wladyslaw Szpilman after the war is also on sale and could fetch 31,400 to 58,300 euros.
JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP
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Another valuable piece from this auction scheduled for Tuesday at the Desa Unicum House is the Steinway grand piano that belonged to Wladyslaw Szpilman after the war.
The watch and the pen are estimated between 10,000 and 16,000 zlotys (approximately 2,240 to 3,590 euros) while the piano could reach 140,000 to 260,000 zlotys (31,400 to 58,300 euros).
“
As a museologist, I regret that this collection can be dispersed,
” explains the manager of Polin.
“
I really hope that the pen and the watch will join his tie and that we can tell this story in our exhibition,
” she adds.