This week I read a book (and later watched the corresponding movie) called “The Pianist.” This Holocaust memoir by Wladyslaw Szpilman recounts the tragic sequence of events that led to the murder of his family, the ruin of his home, and the destruction of nations.
Szpilman was part of a middle-class Jewish family living in Warsaw. They were kind-hearted, honest people—the sort who could be your neighbors. When the Nazis first invaded Poland, the Szpilmans never foresaw their fate. Like many others, they believed an easy war would bring a swift end to any violence.
