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Wilm Hosenfeld was a German Army officer who helped Jews and Poles in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. He was captured by the Soviets and died in prison in 1952, but was posthumously honored by Poland and Israel as a Righteous Among the Nations.
- How Wilm Hosenfeld Grew Disillusioned with Nazism
- Wilm Hosenfeld and ‘The Pianist’
- The Capture and Torturous Death of Wilm Hosenfeld
- Wilm Hosenfeld’S Legacy in Recent Years
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Born in 1895, Wilm Hosenfeld served the German army in World War I before becoming a teacher, husband, and father to five. In 1935, Hosenfeld joined the Nazi party, pulled in by the promise of returning Germany to its prior greatness. But Hosenfeld quickly grew disillusioned with the Nazis when World War II broke out. The Wehrmacht drafted the vete...
Then, in 1944, Hosenfeld discovered a nearly starved man hiding in a bombed Warsaw building. Władysław Szpilman was a celebrity in Poland. The pianist and composer had been playing Chopin on the radio when Germany dropped the first bombs of the war on Warsaw. Szpilman escaped the train that carried his family to a concentration camp. When the Nazis...
By the end of 1944, the tide of the war had turned against Germany. In Poland, the Soviet army advanced. And in January 1945, they reached Warsaw. The Soviets captured Wilm Hosenfeld, along with other members of the Wehrmacht. They charged him with spying and hauled him to a military prison. In 1946, Hosenfeld sent a plea to his wife. In a letter, ...
Throughout the war, Wilm Hosenfeld likely saved the lives of 60 people, many of them Jewish. But without the pianist Władysław Szpilman, Hosenfeld might have been forgotten. In his memoir, Szpilman related the kindness Hosenfeld offered during the darkest days of the war. Without Hosenfeld, Szpilman might have starved or frozen in the final weeks b...
Wilm Hosenfeld was a German schoolteacher turned army officer who helped save a number of Polish Jews from the Holocaust before dying tragically in a Soviet prison. He was honored by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, but his story was overshadowed by the film The Pianist based on one of his rescued Jews.
Wilhelm Hosenfeld was a German officer who helped two Jews, Leon Warm and Wladyslaw Szpilman, during World War II. He was imprisoned by the Soviets and died in 1952, but was honored by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations.
Wilhelm Hosenfeld was a German soldier who helped Jews in Warsaw during World War II. He was imprisoned by the Soviets and died in 1952, but was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2008.
Jun 20, 2009 · German officer Wilhelm "Wilm" Hosenfeld saved two Jews from the Holocaust, including Wladyslaw Szpilman, whose story was the basis of the Oscar-winning film "The Pianist." But he died...
Aug 11, 2022 · Wilm Hosenfeld was a German army officer who rescued several Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland, including the famous pianist Wladyslaw Szpillman. He renounced Nazism, faced war crimes charges, and died in a Soviet POW camp, but was honored as Righteous Among the Nations in 2008.
Nov 22, 2009 · Wilm Hosenfeld, who was portrayed by Thomas Kretschmann in the film "The Pianist", was posthumously recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for his efforts to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. He was a sports and culture officer in Warsaw, who helped Leon Wurm and Władysław Szpilman, and opposed the Nazi regime.
