During the Second World War between 1939 and 1945, dozens of countries were involved in a relentless war and more than 61 million people lost their lives. What the Nazis did during this period, who systematically killed people outside of the actual war, is a black mark in our history. It is a relief to know that among these people, some of whom are real demons, there are people like Captain Wilm Hosenfeld who don’t get dirty with the uniform he wears.
According to Władysław Szpilman’s book, which was adapted to the cinema with the 2002 movie The Pianist, in which he told his experiences during this period, Wilm Hosenfeld, an SS Captain who was stationed in Poland, did not remain silent about the massacre that took place around him and saved as many Jews as he could, but unfortunately he ended up in a Soviet prison camp. Let’s see who Wilm Hosenfeld is and what his life was like in all its details.
Who is Wilm Hosenfeld? A World War I veteran teacher:
Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld, with his full name, was born on May 2, 1895, in a small town in the city of Hünfeld, in what is today Hessen, Germany. He was the fourth of six children in a conservative Catholic family. Wilm, who was raised as a Catholic in accordance with his family and environment, graduated from high school in 1913.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, he voluntarily joined the German Imperial Army, like every patriot. He fought countless battles and received many wounds. He was sent to his country as a veteran when he was seriously injured in 1917. He was awarded the Order of the Iron Cross II Class for his services.
By 1918, the First World War was over and life was starting to return to normal. Wilm also became a middle school teacher, starting his dream job as a teacher. However, the Nazi Party, which was founded as one of the results of the war in Germany, was getting stronger and was starting to attract young veterans like Wilm.
Germany needs you Wilm:
The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or the Nazi Party as we know it, was getting stronger in the country and forming many small and large organizations. Wilm Hosenfeld was first called up to the quasi-military structure called the Brown Shirts in 1933, and then to the party itself in 1935.
Wilm disliked the Nazi Party and its ideologies, but as a conservative Catholic, he valued his state. Wilm, who joined the country’s army in August 1939 when the Second World War began, was sent to work in Poland, where he would serve for many years after the invasion of Poland.
Wilm Hosenfeld’s first assignment was in the city of Pabianice. Here he carried out the task of building and managing a dungeon. He started his duty in a battalion in the city of Węgrów in December 1939, and with this team advanced into Jadow. By July 1940 he was sent to Warsaw and served as Captain in the highest ranks of the Warsaw Guard Regiment until the end of the war.
Wilm Hosenfeld cannot turn a blind eye to the massacres of the Nazis and meets the Jews:
Even if it is used as a cover in every massacre throughout history, no religious structure actually allows civilians to be killed. Wilm Hosenfeld, a Catholic who is aware of this, started to shudder day by day in the face of the Nazis’ hatred of Jews, which he could not understand from the first day.
As a high-ranking officer, he blamed himself for these massacres of the Nazis and felt guilty. During this period, he learned Jewish history from the books he read and began to develop the Polish language. Together with a few of his fellow officers, albeit a small number of those who think like him, he worked to save the Jews without being noticed by anyone.
According to Władysław Szpilman, Wilm Hosenfeld:
The 2002 film The Pianist is adapted for the screen from a novel by a Jewish musician named Władysław Szpilman, about his experiences during the occupation of Poland. We see clearly in both the film and the novel that it is Wilm Hosenfeld, whom Szpilman calls the German Who Saved My Life, who kept him alive.
Hosenfeld, who heard the voices in Władysław Szpilman’s hiding place, did not report him and asked where he was staying. For months, he secretly fed Szpilman and kept him alive. He was in danger of being arrested by the Gestapo for disobeying orders in this and similar ways countless times.
Wilm Hosenfeld, who was arrested at the end of the war, dies in a Soviet prison camp:
On January 17, 1945, the Red Army, composed of soldiers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, liberated Warsaw and arrested all Nazi soldiers. Along with Wilm Hosenfeld, many high-ranking Nazi officers were sentenced to 25 years of forced labor for war crimes.
Wilm Hosenfeld was sent to a prison camp in Stalingrad, where he went through endless torture. Although he tried to reach Władysław Szpilman and the other Jews he saved, unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. It is even said that in 1950 Szpilman reached out to Polish Secret Police Chief Jakub Berman, but Berman did nothing on purpose.
Wilm Hosenfeld, who could not convince the Soviets of this despite the numerous torture-filled interrogations he was subjected to, testifying against the Nazis and openly saying that he was on the side of the Jews, died on August 13, 1952, from loss of blood, unable to bear the ill-treatment he experienced.
Of late, Wilm Hosenfeld was rehabilitated:
When it was revealed that many Nazi officers like Wilm Hosenfeld actually treated the prisoners well, unlike the general procedure, with the 2002 film The Pianist, which was adapted into the cinema from the memoirs written by Władysław Szpilman, it was discovered that the Second World War actually had a more humane aspect that was not known.
In October 2007, then-President of Poland Lech Kaczyński honored Wilm Hosenfeld with the Order of Merit in his absence. In Jerusalem, Israel, there is a monument called Yad Vashem, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Szpilman’s son, Andrzej Szpilman, fought hard to have the Hosenfeld name in the Righteous Among the Nations, and eventually succeeded in 2008. Wilm Hosenfeld’s name is also featured on a monument erected in Warsaw in 2011.
Answering the question of who is Wilm Hosenfeld, whom we know as the Nazi officer who saved Władysław Szpilman in the movie The Pianist, we talked about the details you need to know about the life of this kind-hearted man who reminded us that there are still crumbs of hope in this world. You can share your thoughts on the subject in the comments.
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