1. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
School subject: Polish
Lesson plan created by:KatarzynaOlejnik
Lesson subject: Pianist in the world of war terror-movie adaptation by Roman Polański about
Holocaust
Duration of the classes: 90 minutes (+135 minutes for movie projection)
Grade: 12 (3rd
grade of secondary school in Poland)
Aim of the lesson: talking about world creation and the picture of human in Polański’s movie,
comparing literary and movie story about holocaust
Methodological solutions:
− Kinds of work: individual, collective and group work
− Methods of work: analysis of masterpiece, similarities and differences, work with text
Teaching Materials:
Book :Understand the text-understand the man’ s.5
R. PolańskiPianist,
Stills from movie Pianist

2. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Lesson progress:
1. Lesson starts with the talk about movie storied about holocaust. Students point out the most
important subjects from the holocaust movies (e.g. realistic picture of life during the
extermination, a man in the situation of a choice, questions about the border of humanity, extreme
of people’s attitudes- examples of heroism and bestiality). Teacher points out the specific of the
pianist by R. Polański (looking at the nation extermination through the lens of individual tragedy,
double autobiographism of a movie-personal experiences of a director and the author of a book
being the base for the scenario, and next he tells the subject of a lesson and points out the aim of it
2. Before the projection teacher divides class into 6 groups and gives them the tasks. Three groups
analyze subjects connected to the reality of war showed in the movie, other three groups- discuss
the picture of a man showed in the piece. During the watching students take notes, and then
present the results in front of everyone (every part is ended by making deductions in the talk with
students)
3. The picture of hitler occupation in Polański’s piece:
Group I- desire of escape from the occupied country (the stay caused by attachment to Poland and
ignorance of the danger- picture of occupation based on the I world war, belief in help from the
West), orders of occupant capital’s authority; banning Jews from going into the restaurants and
parks, prohibition of having money, compulsion of wearing band with the David’s star, prohibition
of going along with Aryans, injunction of moving to the ghetto (31,10,1940)
group II – Closing (the wall separating ghetto from Aryan part of Warsaw), jamming half billion
of people in the very small area, everyday fight for survival, common hunger, men in the extreme
situations, slave work, the liquidation of ghetto – export of Jews to Treblinka
group III – first look of Szpilman at the Aryan side of Warsaw (after spending two years in
Ghetto)- almost Arcadian picture of the capital, people’s appearance, usual urban space, people
running normal lives, cultivating pre-war passions.

3. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Deductions: faithful reproduction of war’s reality, contrast between the situation of Polish and Jews in
spite of being in the same occupied country (holocaust as a one nation’s experience), showing the
growing terror- from Jew’s displacement from the public area to the extermination
The human picture in Polański’s piece of art
group IV – bestiality of Germans as a community, seeing Jews as a subhuman race, humiliation,
WilmHosenfeld- disinterested help given to Szpilman, post-war consequences of Nazism
(Germans as prisoners of Russian camps)
group IV – indifference of Polish as a community to the faith of Jews, the willingness of
individuals to hide and help the Jews, in spite of death sentence, people of good will letting
Szpilman surviving on the Aryan side: JaninaGodlewska and AndrzejBogucki, MarekGębczyński,
Michał and DorotaDzikiewicz, examples of unethical behaviour.
group VI –Jews community wanting to survive, resistance movement in Ghetto, example of
collaboration with Germans, contrast between the life of ordinary people and the life of
speculators.
Deductions: avoidance of black and white results, the acceptance of applicable standards and ideology
by the community, few examples of heroism, riot, resistance, unpredictability of human’s faith,
injustice of history
4. The next part of the lesson is to compare means of expression characteristic for both forms of art-
literature and movie. Students analyse the way of showing the Umschlagplatz’s picture in the
fragment of Szpilman’s memories, and in the movie.
W. SzpilmanPianist R. PolańskiPianist
Means of
expression,
underlining
subjectivity of
Leading narrative (we were
waiting, our)
Camera along with Szpilman
enters Umslagchtplatz (wiever
watches reality by his eyes)

4. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
relationship
Means of
expression used
to authenticate
the relation
accuracy of information, the
richness of details
relation of behaviour of certain
people
quoting other Jews
the appearance of
people(eg,Orthodox Jewishdress,
navy bluepoliceuniforms)
recreatingthe topographyof the
city (ghetto was sealedwith
barbed wireandwalls
ofbuildings, showed by the
outer, cold eye ofthe camera)
Means of
expression used
to show the
war’s terror
the reality of description close to
behavioural techniques, focusing
on human actions and reactions
(People ran to and from in search
of water)
emotionless description (body of
a young woman and two girls with
completely mangled skulls, clear
traces of blood and brain chips)
naturalism and turpizm of
description (on [...] places of dried
blood were strolling big, black
flies, decomposing bodies were
swelling in the heat), referring to
the senses
image of corpses lying by the wall
(unnatural poses, mutilated bodies,
blood stains)
showing the crowd of people, the
camera spots out certain figures -
shows individual tragedy (for
example, a young Jewish woman
begging for a drop of water for her
son, grieving mother who
suffocated her child)
depressing passivity, resignation of
population (shown in the
expression of human faces)

5. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
5 The final stage of the lesson is to talk about the fate of Szpilman presented in the film. The teacher
asks for an interpretation of the book (points out that the first memories, published in 1946, bore the
title of Death). Students state that the profession largely determines the fate of the hero, and certainly
defines its identity. The teacher hands out the worksheet on the most important music scenes in the
film. Students work individually, the teacher checks the answers with the whole class. Sample
solutions:
Scene
Description of the situation of the
characters
Interpretation
Warsaw’s
bombing
lastwarbroadcastliveon Polish
Radio
initiallydistant,
thenincreasingthe sounds
ofbombing
Szpilman - smartly dressed,
smiling, calm, collected, does not
interrupt the game despite the
bombing, the first meeting with
Dorothy (delight for the girl, ready
to flirt)
presentation of the Szpilman’s
portrait as a musician (camera first
shows his hands on the piano keys,
then the face)
contrast between the attitude of the
hero and the terror of war (self-
confidence, the belief that he can
cope with the new situation)
Jews’ restaurant
in Ghetto
traders require a break in the show
(check the authenticity of coins,
and the music drowns out the
sound of gold)
Szpilman: still a well-dressed, but
rare portrait of the displayed
calculated ghetto (traders,
speculators, prostitutes)
conditions of life in the ghetto,
forcing the hero to specific selling out,

6. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
the face of sadness and anxiety,
visibility armbands with the Star of
David on his shoulder, not playing
Chopin's music, but the pre-war
stunner I arranged to meet her at
nine (pop music)
compromise (serves people whose
attitudes are not accepted), humiliation
art Szpilman
money more important than music
(art)
New hiding
place
second hiding on the Aryan side
(German district, nicely furnished
apartment)
dusty piano, long unused
Szpilman: skinny, red eyes, fear of
loneliness, with reverence touch
keyboard and stool, plays without
touching the keys
contact the hero of the old world,
which - apparently - irretrievably
lost
inability to realize his passion (the
need to maintain peace) - a longing
for music
silent concert as a way to
overcome fear and loneliness
Warsaw’s
hospital
Warsaw Uprising
demolished hospital
Szpilman: dirty, unshaven, dressed
in rags, sitting in a chair and
hitting in the keys that do not exist
showing theformationofa
civilianperspective,hiding
escape from reality, the
instantaneous
releaseofterrorwarandthe needs
ofthe body
Meeting in the
ruins of Warsaw
landscape of the post-uprising
Warsaw (ruins, dark, frightening
silence)
Szpilman: trapped, focused on
obtaining food (can of pickles),
recovertheir identity(I am / was
apianist), inner strengthonlyat
the time ofthe game,when the
musicstops-
againseehoundedhero

7. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
playing for the request of
Hosenfeld (dirty hands in rags on
keyboards, plays timidly at first,
then with the old virtuosity)
Hosenfeld: Aryan model (well-
built blond man in uniform), the
culture of speech
the reconciliation oftwo
representatives fromnations in
conflict
contrastbetween the
expectedbehaviourandhis
reactionHosenfeld
contrast between thesituation
of a
concert(spiritualcivilizationof
Europe)and thedestructionof
waroutside (barbarism)
Post-war
audition
the first post-war Polish Radio
broadcast (transmitted from
Raszyn near Warsaw)
Szpilman: elegantly dressed, calm,
happy, touched, playing the same
song as during the time of the
September bombing of Warsaw
emotions Szpilman providing to
the people observing him
(Lednicki)
composition braces (opening scene
reconstruction work - the camera
once again shows his hand first
Szpilman, the hero of the second
profile shown to show the war path
travelled by)
return to pre-war world
aware of the evil that was
accomplished (crying after the loss
of loved ones)

8. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
The lesson plan was translated by KatarzynaSkiba, a student of the 3rd grade of middle school.