The possessions that belonged of the late Jewish-Polish composer Wladyslaw Szpliman will go to auction in Warsaw, Poland, this week.

The listing includes a fountain pen, a silver pocket watch, and other prized items that belonged to the renowned musician who died in 2000.

Szpliman's autobiography described how he escaped death during World War II after being forced into a Ghetto in 1940, and the book was made into an Oscar-winning movie titled "The Pianist."

Renata Piatkoswka, the curator at Warsaw's POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, explained: "For us, the most precious items are the ones Wladyslaw Szpilman had with him in the Warsaw Ghetto: the Mont Blanc pen and the Omega pocket watch."

Szpilman's son_, Andrzej, explained the special significance of the pocket watch, "My father wrote that he would wind it up to know what time it was because he lived in total solitude and had lost all sense of time. The watch helped him cope."

In 1942, Szpilman's parents were killed at an extermination camp, but the composer was saved by a police officer who recognized him from previous concerts he had performed in the city. A year later, the musician escaped from the ghetto and went into a hideout.

A German officer called Wilm Hosenfeld found Szpilman, but instead of killing him, asked him to play the piano.

Having been spared, the composer survived the rest of the war by moving from house to house and went on to play with some of classical music's most famous musicians. 

Video editing: David Bamford