Wilm Hosenfeld
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld (ˈvɪlm ˈhoːzənfɛlt; 2 May 1895 – 13 August 1952), originally a teacher, was a German Army
officer who rose to the rank of Hauptmann
by the end of the war. He helped to hide or rescue several Poles, including Jews, in Nazi-occupied Poland
, and is perhaps most remembered for helping Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman to survive, hidden, in the ruins of Warsaw
during the last months of 1944.
In June 2009 he was posthumously recognized as a Righteous among the Nations
by Yad Vashem
.
teacher near Fulda
. Family life had a Catholic character and Christian social justice
work was emphasized during his education. He was influenced by the Catholic Action
and Church-inspired social work, but also by Prussia
n obedience, by German
patriotism
, and, during his marriage, by the increasing pacifism
of his own wife, Annemarie. He was also influenced by the Wandervogel
movement and its adherents. He served in World War I
from 1914 and was wounded in 1917 and received Iron cross 2nd class
.
in August 1939 and stationed in Poland
from mid-September 1939 until his capture by the Soviet Army
on 17 January 1945. His first destination was Pabianice
, where he was involved in the building and running of a POW camp. Next stop, from December 1939, was Wegrów
, where he remained until his battalion was moved another 30 km away to Jadów at the end of May 1940. He was finally transferred to Warsaw in July 1940, where he spent the rest of the war, for the most part attached to Wach-Bataillon (guard battalion) 660, part of the Wach-Regiment Warschau, where he served as a staff officer as well as the battalion sports officer.
Although a member of the Nazi Party since 1935, Hosenfeld grew disillusioned with the party and Nazi policies as time passed and, especially, as he saw how Poles
, and later on Jews
, were treated. He and several fellow German Army officers felt sympathy for all peoples of occupied Poland; ashamed of what some of their countrymen were doing, they offered help to those they could whenever possible.
Hosenfeld befriended numerous Poles and even made an effort to learn their language. He also attended Holy Mass
(Latin rite
), received Holy Communion, and went to confession in Polish churches
, even though this was forbidden by official Nazi decree. His actions on behalf of Poles began as early as autumn 1939 when he allowed, against regulations, Polish POWs access to their families and even pushed (successfully) for the early release of at least one. During his time in Warsaw, he used his position to give refuge to people, regardless of their background (he gave refuge to at least one politically persecuted anti-Nazi ethnic German as well), who were in danger of persecution—even arrest by the Gestapo
, sometimes by getting them the requisite papers and jobs at the sports stadium that was under his oversight.
Hosenfeld was captured by the Soviets
at Błonie, a small Polish city about 30 km west of Warsaw, with the men of a Wehrmacht
company he was leading.
He was sentenced to 25 years at hard labor for alleged war crimes simply on account of his unit affiliation and was tortured by the Soviet secret services, as they believed Hosenfeld had been active in the German Abwehr
or even the Sicherheitsdienst
.
Despite the Polish and Jewish citizens who filed petitions on his behalf, the Soviets refused to believe that he had not been involved in war crimes. He died in Soviet captivity on 13 August 1952, shortly before 10:00 in the evening, from rupture of the thoracic aorta
, possibly sustained during torture.
, had long called for Yad Vashem
to recognize Wilm Hosenfeld as a Righteous Among the Nations
, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews. Along with him, the Szpilman family and thousands of others asked that Hosenfeld be honoured in this way for his acts of kindness throughout the war.
In 2002, The Pianist
, a film based on Szpilman's memoirs of the same name, portrayed Wilm Hosenfeld's rescue of Władysław Szpilman. He was played by Thomas Kretschmann
.
In October 2007, Wilm Hosenfeld was posthumously honoured by the president of Poland Lech Kaczynski
with a Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
.
On 16 February 2009, Yad Vashem
finally announced that Capt. Wilm Hosenfeld would be posthumously recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations. On 19 June 2009, Israeli diplomats presented Hosenfeld's son, Detlev, with the award, in Berlin.
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
officer who rose to the rank of Hauptmann
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
by the end of the war. He helped to hide or rescue several Poles, including Jews, in Nazi-occupied Poland
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, and is perhaps most remembered for helping Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman to survive, hidden, in the ruins of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
during the last months of 1944.
In June 2009 he was posthumously recognized as a Righteous among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
by Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
.
Life
He was born into the family of a conservative and pious CatholicRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
teacher near Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
. Family life had a Catholic character and Christian social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
work was emphasized during his education. He was influenced by the Catholic Action
Catholic Action
Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics who were attempting to encourage a Catholic influence on society.They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries that fell under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Italy, Bavaria, France, and...
and Church-inspired social work, but also by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n obedience, by German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, and, during his marriage, by the increasing pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
of his own wife, Annemarie. He was also influenced by the Wandervogel
Wandervogel
Wandervogel is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 onward. The name can be translated as rambling, hiking or wandering bird and the ethos is to shake off the restrictions of society and get back to nature and freedom...
movement and its adherents. He served in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
from 1914 and was wounded in 1917 and received Iron cross 2nd class
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
.
World War II
Hosenfeld was drafted into the WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
in August 1939 and stationed in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
from mid-September 1939 until his capture by the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
on 17 January 1945. His first destination was Pabianice
Pabianice
Pabianice is a town in central Poland with 69 648 inhabitants . Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County...
, where he was involved in the building and running of a POW camp. Next stop, from December 1939, was Wegrów
Wegrów
Węgrów is a town in eastern Poland with 12,561 inhabitants . Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship , it is the capital of Węgrów County.First mentioned in historical records in 1414, it received its citycharter in 1441...
, where he remained until his battalion was moved another 30 km away to Jadów at the end of May 1940. He was finally transferred to Warsaw in July 1940, where he spent the rest of the war, for the most part attached to Wach-Bataillon (guard battalion) 660, part of the Wach-Regiment Warschau, where he served as a staff officer as well as the battalion sports officer.
Although a member of the Nazi Party since 1935, Hosenfeld grew disillusioned with the party and Nazi policies as time passed and, especially, as he saw how Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, and later on Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, were treated. He and several fellow German Army officers felt sympathy for all peoples of occupied Poland; ashamed of what some of their countrymen were doing, they offered help to those they could whenever possible.
Hosenfeld befriended numerous Poles and even made an effort to learn their language. He also attended Holy Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
(Latin rite
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...
), received Holy Communion, and went to confession in Polish churches
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
, even though this was forbidden by official Nazi decree. His actions on behalf of Poles began as early as autumn 1939 when he allowed, against regulations, Polish POWs access to their families and even pushed (successfully) for the early release of at least one. During his time in Warsaw, he used his position to give refuge to people, regardless of their background (he gave refuge to at least one politically persecuted anti-Nazi ethnic German as well), who were in danger of persecution—even arrest by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, sometimes by getting them the requisite papers and jobs at the sports stadium that was under his oversight.
Hosenfeld was captured by the Soviets
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
at Błonie, a small Polish city about 30 km west of Warsaw, with the men of a Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
company he was leading.
He was sentenced to 25 years at hard labor for alleged war crimes simply on account of his unit affiliation and was tortured by the Soviet secret services, as they believed Hosenfeld had been active in the German Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
or even the Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
.
Despite the Polish and Jewish citizens who filed petitions on his behalf, the Soviets refused to believe that he had not been involved in war crimes. He died in Soviet captivity on 13 August 1952, shortly before 10:00 in the evening, from rupture of the thoracic aorta
Thoracic aorta
The thoracic aorta is contained in the posterior mediastinal cavity.It begins at the lower border of the fourth thoracic vertebra where it is continuous with the aortic arch, and ends in front of the lower border of the twelfth thoracic vertebra, at the aortic hiatus in the diaphragm where it...
, possibly sustained during torture.
Legacy
Szpilman's son, Andrzej SzpilmanAndrzej Szpilman
Andrzej Szpilman is a dentist, composer, music producer, publisher, and son of the famous pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman....
, had long called for Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
to recognize Wilm Hosenfeld as a Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews. Along with him, the Szpilman family and thousands of others asked that Hosenfeld be honoured in this way for his acts of kindness throughout the war.
In 2002, The Pianist
The Pianist (2002 film)
The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman...
, a film based on Szpilman's memoirs of the same name, portrayed Wilm Hosenfeld's rescue of Władysław Szpilman. He was played by Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Der Untergang, and Captain Englehorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong.-Early life:Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former...
.
In October 2007, Wilm Hosenfeld was posthumously honoured by the president of Poland Lech Kaczynski
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
with a Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta is one of Poland's highest Orders. The Order can be conferred for outstanding achievements in the fields of education, science, sport, culture, art, economics, defense of the country, social work, civil service, or for furthering good relations between countries...
.
On 16 February 2009, Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
finally announced that Capt. Wilm Hosenfeld would be posthumously recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations. On 19 June 2009, Israeli diplomats presented Hosenfeld's son, Detlev, with the award, in Berlin.
See also
- Oskar SchindlerOskar SchindlerOskar Schindler was an ethnic German industrialist born in Moravia. He is credited with saving over 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.He is the subject of the...
- Karl PlaggeKarl PlaggeMajor Karl Plagge was a German officer and Nazi Party member who during World War II used his position as a staff officer in the Heer to employ and protect some 1,240 Jews — 500 men, the others women and children, in order to give them a better chance to survive the nearly total annihilation of...
- Albert GöringAlbert GöringAlbert Günther Göring was a German businessman, notable for helping Jews and dissidents survive in Germany in World War II. His older brother, Hermann Göring, held the rank of Reichsmarschall of Nazi Germany and was convicted as a war criminal.-Early life:Albert Göring was born on the 9th of March...
- John RabeJohn RabeJohn Rabe was a German businessman who is best known for his efforts to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army during the Nanking Occupation and his work to protect and help the Chinese civilians during the event...
- Raoul WallenbergRaoul WallenbergRaoul Wallenberg was a Swedish businessman, diplomat and humanitarian. He is widely celebrated for his successful efforts to rescue thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary from the Holocaust, during the later stages of World War II...
Sources
- Vogel, Thomas, ed.: Wilm Hosenfeld: "Ich versuche jeden zu retten"—Das Leben eines deutschen Offiziers in Briefen und Tagebüchern (Wilm Hosenfeld: "'I try to save each one [I can]'—The life of a German officer in letters and diaries"). Compiled and with commentary by Thomas Vogel, Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt (MGFA: Military History Research Institute). Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich, 2004. ISBN 3-421-05776-1
- Szpilman, Władysław. The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–1945The Pianist (memoir)The Pianist is a memoir of the Polish musician of Jewish origins Władysław Szpilman, written and elaborated by a Polish author Jerzy Waldorff, who met Szpilman in 1938 in Krynica and became a friend of him...
. Picador; 2nd edition, 2002 ISBN 0-312-31135-4 (ISBN ), ISBN 978-0-312-31135-3 (ISBN ). This book includes a foreword by Andrzej Szpilman, excerpts from Hosenfeld's diary, and an epilogue in the form of an essay by Wolf BiermannWolf BiermannKarl Wolf Biermann is a German singer-songwriter and former East German dissident.-Early life:Biermann's father, who worked on the Hamburg docks, was a German Jew and a member of the German Resistance....
.