Wilm Hosenfeld

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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, hid, or rescued several Poles, including Jews, in Nazi-occupied Poland. He is most remembered for saving Polish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman from death in the ruins of Warsaw.

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.

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 were treated. He and several fellow officers felt sympathy for the people 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 mass, took part in communion, and went to confession in Polish churches, even though this was forbidden. 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 people, regardless of their background, 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 city about 30 km west of Warsaw, with the men of a company he was leading. He was sentenced to 25 years at hard labor for alleged war crimes simply on account of his unit affiliation. Despite the many 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.

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.

[edit] References

Wilm Hosenfeld: "Ich versuche jeden zu retten"—Das Leben eines deutschen Offiziers in Briefen und Tagebüchern (Wilm Hosenfeld: "'I try to save everyone [I can]'—The life of a German officer in letters and diaries"), compiled and with commentary by Thomas Vogel, published by the Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt (MGFA: Military History Research Institute), Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich, 2004. ISBN 3-421-05776-1 (German)
Szpilman, Władysław. The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–1945. 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.