German Officer Made Famous in ‘The Pianist’ Named as Righteous
2009 Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — Wilm Hosenfeld, the German officer whose
assistance to Wladyslaw Szpilman in the movie ”The Pianist” made him
famous, has been posthumously recognized as a Righteous Among the
Nations for risking his life to save Jews during World War II.
Hosenfeld was named by the committee set up by Israel’s Holocaust
museum Yad Vashem after Szpilman wrote to Yad Vashem to say that the
Wermacht officer stationed in Poland helped him find a hiding place and
provided him with food, blankets and moral support in November 1944.
The pianist also mentioned Hosenfeld in his diaries, which later
became the basis for Roman Polanski’s film ”The Pianist,” the museum
said in an e-mailed statement.
The title, Righteous Among Nations, is awarded by a special
commission headed by a Supreme Court justice based on a well- defined
set of criteria and regulations, according to the Yad Vashem Web site.
About 6 million European Jews were killed in the Holocaust during
World War II in a systematic Nazi campaign across Europe that included
random executions, plunder and death camps.
Hosenfeld, who was arrested and tried by the Soviets after the war,
died in Soviet prison in 1952. He was also named as a rescuer by
Holocaust survivor Leon Wurm, who said Hosenfeld employed him at a
sports center he was in charge of.
The committee decided on Hosenfeld’s title after it was given his
diaries and as letters to his wife showed he consistently opposed the
Nazi policy toward the Jews, Yad Vashem said.
Hosenfeld’s children, who live in Germany, will receive a medal and
certificate on their father’s behalf, Yad Vashem said, adding that no
date has been set yet for the official ceremony.