Hiwi (volunteer)

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Hiwi is a German abbreviation. It has two meanings, "voluntary assistant" (hilfswilliger, literally one willing to help) and "assistant scientist" (hilfswissenschaftler).

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[edit] Hilfswilliger ("voluntary assistant")

The word entered into several languages during World War II when German troops enlisted volunteers from the occupied territories for supplementary service (drivers, cooks, hospital attendants, ammunition carriers, messengers, sappers, etc.).

This term from World War II times is often associated with collaborationism, and, in the case of the occupied Soviet territories, with anti-Bolshevism (and widely presented by Germans as such). Some Soviet hiwis were pressed into combat in the ranks of the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) in desperate situations, such as with the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, where they added up to about 25% (50,000) of the front-line strength. Some German divisions had a higher ratio - for example, the 71st and 76th Infantry had parity between German and "Hiwi" manpower.[1]

A captured "Hiwi" told his People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del, or NKVD) interrogators: "Russians in the German Army can be put into three groups:

  • First: Soldiers mobilised by German troops, so-called Cossack sections, attached to German divisions.
  • Second: Voluntary Assistants (Hilfswillige) - Local civilians or Russian prisoners who volunteer or Red Army soldiers who desert to join the Germans. These wear full German uniform with their own ranks and badges. They eat like German soldiers and they are attached to German regiments.
  • Third: Russian prisoners doing the dirty jobs, kitchens, stables and so on. The categories are treated differently, volunteers treated best."[2]

Hiwis were referred to as "former Russians" by the Soviet authorities, regardless of the circumstances of them joining, and their fate at the hands of the NKVD was most likely death or the gulag.[3]

The reliance upon "Hiwis" exposed a gap between Nazi ideologues and pragmatic German Army commanders. Nazi leaders, such as German dictator Adolf Hitler, regarded all Slavs as "sub-human" (untermensch) and therefore of no value to the "Aryan" German Army. On the other hand, the manpower was needed[4] and German Intelligence had recognised the need to divide the Soviet people. The contradiction was sometimes disguised by their reclassification as Cossacks.[5] Colonel Groscurth (Chief of Staff, XI Corps) wrote to General Beck: "It is disturbing that we are forced to strengthen our fighting troops with Russian prisoners of war, who are already being turned into gunners. It's an odd state of affairs that the "Beasts" we have been fighting against are now living with us in closest harmony."[6] One quarter of 6th Army's front-line strength were Hiwis[7]

See also: European Volunteers (Europäische Freiwillige)

[edit] Hilfswissenschaftler ("assistant scientist")

This is today's common usage in the German language. It is used for college students working part-time as Teaching assistants or Research assistants.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beevor, Anthony (1999). Stalingrad. London: Penguin, p 184. ISBN 0-14-024985-0. 
  2. ^ Beevor, Anthony (1999). Stalingrad. London: Penguin, pp 184-185. ISBN 0-14-024985-0. 
  3. ^ Beevor, Anthony (1999). Stalingrad. London: Penguin, p 186. ISBN 0-14-024985-0. 
  4. ^ Davies, Norman (2007). Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory. London: Pan Books, p.169. ISBN 978-0-330-35212-3. 
  5. ^ Beevor, Anthony (1999). Stalingrad. London: Penguin, p 185. ISBN 0-14-024985-0. 
  6. ^ Beevor, Anthony (1999). Stalingrad. London: Penguin, p 184. ISBN 0-14-024985-0. 
  7. ^ Beevor, Anthony (1999). Stalingrad. London: Penguin, p 184. ISBN 0-14-024985-0. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Ordinary men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, New York : HarperCollins, 1992.