Family of ‘The Pianist’ Wins Suit Against Book Alleging Jewish Musician Had Nazi Ties
Wladislaw Szpilman was the inspiration behind the 2002 movie “The Pianist.” Image by Flickr (music2020)
The family of the late Polish-Jewish man whose story inspired the Academy Award-winning 2002 film “The Pianist” has won on appeal a defamation suit over claims that he was a Nazi collaborator.
According to Agence France Press, the widow and son of Wladyslaw Szpilman said Monday they have won their suit against the author and publisher of a 2010 biography of Polish-Jewish singer Wiera Gran. In it, the singer claims Szpilman had worked for the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Gran had also been accused of cooperating with the Nazis.
The Warsaw Appeals Court overturned a 2013 ruling that said the book was protected under author Agata Tuszynska’s right to free speech.
The ruling gives Tuszynska and her publishers 15 days to publicly apologize and to excise the passages from future editions of the work.
“This ruling will allow the ethical standards in Poland to improve and bring into question the poorly interpreted notion of freedom of speech,” said Andrzej Szpilman, the son.
Roman Polanski’s 2002 film about Szpilman, whose music helped him survive the Holocaust, won three Academy Awards. Szpilman died in 2000.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
