 Unlike the Robinson Crusoe of the novel , who craved human contact , most of the Warsaw Crusoes tried to avoid it at all cost . This contradiction was noted by both the Robinsons and those who wrote about them after the war . Being discovered by the Germans in almost all cases meant immediate death . There were , however , some exceptions , the best known being that of Szpilman 's encounter with Wilm Hosenfeld , a captain of the Wehrmacht who helped to hide and feed him . In a few instances those captured were first forced to help the Germans with the looting of the city 's ruins , before being either executed or sent to the Pruszków camp . 
