Władysław Szpilman and his family, along with all other Jews living in Warsaw, were forced to move into a "Jewish quarter" - the Warsaw Ghetto - on 31 October 1940.
Szpilman found places to hide in Warsaw and survived with the help of his friends from Polish Radio and fellow musicians such as Andrzej Bogucki and his wife Janina, Czesław Lewicki, and Helena Lewicka supported by Edmund Rudnicki, Witold Lutosławski, Eugenia Umińska, Piotr Perkowski, Irena Sendler.