Hiwi

The term Hiwi (also spelled HIWI or HiWi ) is the abbreviation of the German word Hilfswillige which means auxiliary volunteer. Nowadays, the word still exists in German and nominates a person carrying out of the tasks subordinates.

During the Second world war, the Hilfswilliger were voluntary recruited among the population of the occupied territories of Europe of the East which were used as auxiliaries in the Wehrmacht. They carried a uniform of the German army with an arm-band on which was written Im dienst von Deutschen Wehrmacht .

Historical use of the term

Recruitment

After the Soviet Union in 1941 tackles, the German forces and their allies knew a massive need for labor, sometimes originating in the nations considered as enemy. These " volontaires" came to some extent of the civil populations eager to cooperate, but also of the rows of the Soviet prisoners of war, who saw in that a possibility of improving their catastrophic detention conditions. Within the framework of a war known as “of extermination”, it is difficult indeed here to distinguish a really voluntary rallying, a truly effective desire of Collaboration, of quasi a forced labor. There actually, the most various reasons could play a part, and before all the hope of better chance of survival and living conditions stronger. However, the Germans reflect especially ahead the anti Bolchevisme of its “recruits”, real feeling but however exacerbated for obvious reasons of propaganda.

A Hiwi prisoner explained to his interrogative NKVD that “ the Russians in the German army could be arranged in three groups:

Initially: soldiers mobilized by the German troops within units of Cossacks, attached to German divisions.

Then: Hilfswillige - civilians living the occupied territories, of the Russians made captive going voluntary or of the deserters of the Red Army eager to join the German forces. Those carried the integral German uniform, with badges and badges. They ate like the German soldiers and were attached to the German regiments.

Finally: Russian prisoners assigned to the tasks with the dirty jobs, the kitchens, the Latrines…

These categories were treated differently, the volunteers receiving the best treatment obviously. ”

Not armed auxiliaries

On the whole, between 800.000 and one million citizens of the Soviet Union were useful in formations of Wehrmacht, approximately 200.000 operated in the formations of military police force. Several other hundreds of Soviet thousands of citizens worked with the service of the occupying forces, in particular within the German administration, of the industrial exploitations or of the Reichsbahn. One can also quote shovel-mixes the occupations with drivers, cooks, male nurses, charged with the supply in vivres and ammunition, Estafette S, Sape the USSR…

Members of Einsatztruppen

Whereas Hiwis carried out initially tasks subordinates, not armed, with the profit of the German armies of occupation, they took thereafter share in an active way to military actions under the command of Wehrmacht, increasingly integrated into the armed repressive apparatus, until playing a considerable part in the extermination of the Jews like in the fight against the Partisan S. In Poland, they had in particular the role of " sélectionner" Jews arriving in the concentration camps, before passing by the weapons the " non-aptes". They operated in a large majority of the operations of " nettoyage" within the Einsatztruppen with the back of the Face of the East. The task was so hard that often Hiwis are enivraient with vodka before carrying out the executions in the vapors of alcohol. It is made state of cases where Hiwis, passably drunk, became dangerous for their superiors, who were to be held with the shelter at the time of these slaughters of a rare brutality.

Back-up troops of the German army

In 1943, many Hiwis were gathered in " formations of volontaires" within the Osttruppen (under German framing), for some sent on the Face of the West where they fought in particular at the first days having followed the Débarquement to Normandy. These formations massively had also been employed before at the time of the Bataille of Stalingrad, considering the desperate plight in which was the 6th army German of the general Paulus, where they counted for nearly 25% of the forces present on the frontline, that is to say 50.000 men. In certain divisions (in particular 71e and 76e division of German infantry), the ratio approached the parity.

Despair was so large in 1944 in the German rows that the real will of resistance to the mode stalino-Communist of Moscow was critalisée in the rows of Hiwis through the creation of the Army of Release of Russia, or Armée Vlassov.

Current use of the term

End of the period Nazi and the defeat of automatically fine Wehrmacht putting at any consideration of work, the " term; Hilfswillige" remained nevertheless after 1945 in the German language, without however preserving a military significance, and remaining in its abréviée form.

" Hiwi" remain today in the German language like appointing in a semi-official way a student Tuteur (not to be confused with a Research assistant) in the technical training schools or a ATER, or a collaborator at the German federal court of justice.

The etymological origin (being able to appear problematic) of these terms remains however been unaware of most of the time. It is thought often wrongly that it is about the contraction of Hi lfs wi ssenschaftler (assistant), and not of Hilfswilliger. It is interesting besides to see that Wikipédias in English and German are not agreement on this point.

See too

Army Vlassov

References

Stalingrad , Antony Beevor, 1998. Penguin edition, pages 184 to 186.

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