World War II German Army Officer. Despite being a member of the German Wehrmacht, he deplored the treatment of Poles and Jews in Nazi German-occupied Poland, and made many efforts to help and save them. Born in Mackenzell, Germany, the son of a Catholic teacher, he entered the German Army at the start of World War I and returned home badly injured in 1917. Drafted into the German Army in 1939, at the beginning of World War II his battalion went to Poland. After witnessing how the Nazis were treating Jews, Hosenfeld, a deeply religious man, decided to help them, and repeatedly went against regulations to give refuge to them and anyone else he could help. One of those he saved in his efforts was pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, a deed later depicted in the 2002 Oscar-winning motion picture "The Pianist". In 1945 Hosenfeld was captured by the Russian Army and sentenced to 25 years in a labor camp, where he died in captivity near Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. In 2009 he was posthumously honored by Israel as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations".
World War II German Army Officer. Despite being a member of the German Wehrmacht, he deplored the treatment of Poles and Jews in Nazi German-occupied Poland, and made many efforts to help and save them. Born in Mackenzell, Germany, the son of a Catholic teacher, he entered the German Army at the start of World War I and returned home badly injured in 1917. Drafted into the German Army in 1939, at the beginning of World War II his battalion went to Poland. After witnessing how the Nazis were treating Jews, Hosenfeld, a deeply religious man, decided to help them, and repeatedly went against regulations to give refuge to them and anyone else he could help. One of those he saved in his efforts was pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, a deed later depicted in the 2002 Oscar-winning motion picture "The Pianist". In 1945 Hosenfeld was captured by the Russian Army and sentenced to 25 years in a labor camp, where he died in captivity near Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. In 2009 he was posthumously honored by Israel as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations".
Bio by: Jennifer Long
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