Wilm Hosenfeld
Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld was a mild-mannered schoolteacher from the central German state of Hesse.
Born into a family of a middle class, pious Catholic schoolmaster, his upbringing emphasized Catholic charity work, German patriotism and Prussian obedience.
He was also influenced by the Wandervogel movement that became popular at that time. This organization was a back-to-nature youth group whose adherents stressed freedom, personal responsibility, nationalism and a return to the values of the German Teutonic era.
He saw action in WWI, was seriously wounded and received the Iron Cross 2nd Class.
After the war, he retired from the Army and taught school. In 1935, he joined the Nazi Party, but as time passed, he became disillusioned with their policies towards Poles and especially Jews.
In August 1939, the month before Hitler invaded Poland and began WWII, Hosenfeld was drafted into the Wehrmacht-Heer (German Army). He was posted to Pabianice, a town in central Poland, where he built and ran a POW camp.
In 1940, he was posted to Warsaw where he was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) and attached to the Wach-Regiment Warsaw as a staff officer and battalion sports officer. He remained there for the rest of the war.
It was during this time he, with several other German Army officers, developed a sincere sympathy for the people of occupied Poland. Ashamed by what some of their countrymen were doing, they offered to help Poles in need whenever possible, contrary to Nazi Party orders.
As early as 1939, against Nazi regulations, he allowed POWs access to their families. When he was transferred to Warsaw, he used his position to give refuge to people, sometimes arraigning for the papers they needed and jobs at the local sports stadium, which was under his pervue. He helped hide persecuted people, including Jews. He helped Jewish pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman hide from the Gestapo in the ruins of Warsaw, an act that was portrayed in the 2002 movie The Pianist.
He befriended numerous Poles and even tried to learn the language. Contrary to Nazi orders, he attended the local Polish Catholic churches, heard Mass and received Communion.
Hosenfeld was captured by the Soviets as he led a Heer company on a mission to Blonie, a town west of Warsaw.
The Soviets accused him of war crimes (he had committed none) and sentenced him to 25 years of hard labor.
In 1950, Szpilman learned the name of the German officer who hid him from the Gestapo. He launched a campaign to have the Soviets release Hosenfeld, which was unsuccessful.
Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld died in a Soviet concentration camp in 1952 of a rupture of the thoracic aorta.
On February 16, 2009, Yad Vashem (Israel’s monument to Jews who fought Nazi oppression and Gentiles who aided Jews in need) posthumously recognized Wilhelm Hosenfeld as Righteous Among the Nations.