Wilm Hosenfeld

Wilm Hosenfeld (full name: Wilhelm Hosenfeld; May 2 1895 in Mackenzell, Hessen-Nassau, Germany–August 13 1952 near Stalingrad), originally a teacher, was a German army officer who rose to the rank of captain by the end of the war. He helped to hide or rescue several Poles, including Jews, in Nazi-occupied Poland. He is perhaps most remembered for helping Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman survive hidden in the ruins of Warsaw during the last months of 1944.

Life

He was born into the family of a conservative, pious and loving Catholic teacher near Fulda. Family life had a warm Catholic character and Christian social justice work was emphasised during his education. He was influenced by the warmth of Catholic Action and Church-inspired social work, but also by Prussian 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.

Poland

Hosenfeld was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939 and stationed in Poland from mid-September 1939 until his capture by the Soviet Army on January 17, 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 (watch battalion) 660, part of the Wach-Regiment Warschau, where he served as a staff officer as well as the battalion sports officer. [Vogel, p.56]

Although a nominal 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 [Vogel, p.40] . 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. [Vogel, p. 933]

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 [Vogel, p. 968-69, back flap] for alleged war crimes simply on account of his unit affiliation. He 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 August 13, 1952, shortly before 10:00 in the evening, from rupture of the thoracic aorta [Vogel, p. 146] .

Hosenfeld was played by Thomas Kretschmann in "The Pianist", a film based on Szpilman's memoirs.

Szpilman's son, Andrzej Szpilman, has long called for Yad Vashem to honor 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 are asking that Hosenfeld be recognized in this way for his acts of kindness throughout the war.

In October 2007 Wilm Hosenfeld was honored by the president of Poland with a Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta ( _pl. Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski). [ [http://www.dziennik.pl/Default.aspx?TabId=96&ShowArticleId=63954 "Dziennik", 13 October 2007] pl icon]

ources

*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, [http://www.mgfa-potsdam.de/?lang=en&PHPSESSID=71428e90a6eefde3d6bd5cb5c92f4723 Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt (MGFA: Military History Research Institute)] . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich, 2004. ISBN 3-421-05776-1 de icon
*Szpilman, Władysław. "." Picador; 2nd edition, 2002 ISBN 0312311354 (ISBN-10), ISBN 978-0312311353 (ISBN-13). This book includes a foreword by Andrzej Szpilman, excerpts from Hosenfeld's diary, and an epilogue in the form of an essay by Wolf Biermann.

References and notes

ee also

*Oskar Schindler
*Karl Plagge

External links

* [http://www.hosenfeld.dk/ Wilm Hosenfeld, A Man Of courage]
* http://www.shoah.dk/Hosenfeld/ - The story of Wilm Hosenfeld
* [http://minadream.com/romanpolanski/ThePianistWilm.htm Comment on Hosenfeld in conjunction with Roman Polanski's film"The Pianist"]
* [http://www.hosenfeld.de/pianist.htm Page on Wilm Hosenfeld and "The Pianist" on the website of Hosenfeld's grandson]
* [http://www.dziennik.pl/Default.aspx?TabId=96&ShowArticleId=63954 "Dziennik" 13 Oct. 2007] re posthumous award of Polonia Restituta - In Polish