Son of "Pianist" to sue over claim that father helped Nazis

Nov 4, 2010, 17:00 GMT

Warsaw - The son of Wladyslaw Szpielman, whose life was portrayed in the film The Pianist, plans to take a publishing house to court after it released a book claiming his father collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

Szpielman's son, Andzej, told the German Press Agency dpa that he was 'disturbed' by the 'unjust charges' and 'lies' told about his father in the book.

He said he will demand an apology and a publication halt from the company, Wydawnictwo Literackie.

The book, by Agata Tuszynska, claims Wladyslaw Szpielman collaborated with Nazis by helping to round up concentration camp- bound Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto in August 1942.

The book quotes Wiera Gran, a singer who knew Szpielman, as saying that she saw the pianist in a policeman's cap beating a Jewish woman with a baton and pulling other women by the hair.

The movie shows Szpielman, a Jew, escaping deportation by hiding among Warsaw's ruins.

Read more about History

Read more about Poland Culture