Wilm Hosenfeld

Wilm Hosenfeld was a German Army officer who rose to the rank of Hauptmann by the end of the war. He helped to hide or rescue several Poles, including Jews, in Nazi-occupied Poland, and helped Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman (Szpilman is widely known as the protagonist of the 2002 Roman Polański film "The Pianist")to survive, hidden, in the ruins of Warsaw during the last months of 1944. Hosenfeld was stationed in Wegrów in December 1939, where he remained until his battalion was moved another 30 km away to Jadów at the end of May 1940. He visited Sokołów Podlaski several times. In his letters to his wife he mentions a railway station in Sokołów and refugees who came to the town.
In June 2009 he was posthumously recognized as a Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
The picture was taken during his stay in Węgrów.