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THE SOLDIER WHO DEFIED HITLER – FRANZ HASEL
INTRODUCTION
On a mild Saturday in 1939, a letter arrived at a German farmhouse that changed the family’s world forever. It was a summons from the draft board for the 40-year-old Franz Hasel, to attend the recruitment office in Frankfurt the following Monday.
Because he was a pacifist, Hasel was assigned as a private to the Pioneer Company 699, who built roads, bridges and fortifications at the front lines . But Hasel’s story is truly unbelievable. Although he wore the uniform, and was part of the Pioneer Company, he didn’t agree with the Nazi agenda.
He even risked his life to warn the people in the villages the army had passed through, that the SS death squads would soon be coming to their town. And then during the middle of the advance into Russia, he informed his sergeant to be prepared, because Hitler was not going to win the war.
These were acts and words of treason during wartime. They were enough to have a soldier face a firing squad. So, how did Franz Hasel survive, and how did he know that Hitler was not going to win the war and establish the Third Reich?
Well, that is what makes this story so fascinating. Join me as we journey with a man who dared to defy the society, culture and the army of his time, because he believed in a higher law.
HONESTY
It’s the year 1940, and the Nazi army has invaded an old and bitter rival, France. It’s revenge time for the defeat in World War One and the humiliation of the hated Treaty of Versailles.
Amid the violence of the invasion, a group of German soldiers entered a small grey house. The house was empty and in disarray, and showed all the signs of a hasty retreat. Still, the soldiers spread out to search the house. One soldier slowly walked up the stairs.
There, in the attic at the top of the stairs, is a sewing machine on which a little girl’s half-finished dress sits. The soldier pulls something out of his pocket. It’s a spool of black thread. He puts the spool on the spindle, turns around, and walks down the stairs, out of the house, and back to the war-torn streets below.
The soldier’s name was Franz Hasel. The day before, he had entered the abandoned house to check for snipers. While in the attic, he had seen the spool of thread. Knowing how precious thread was back home in Germany, he had quickly pocketed it thinking he would send it back home to his wife.
Now, that was all Hasel took from the house. In contrast, many of his fellow soldiers grabbed jewelry, watches, and trinkets, or whatever they could carry off. He had even asked them, “You have wives and children, right? At home you wouldn’t steal. Don’t let the war turn you into thieves. What would your families think of you?”
But then Private Hasel remembered the spool of thread in his pocket. And, suddenly, he felt like a hypocrite. But it was only a spool of thread! Who would miss it? And, besides, before long someone would steal the sewing machine itself along with the thread, and even the half-made little girl’s dress as well.
But that didn’t matter to Hasel. He lived by a code of ethics, and part of it said, “You shall not steal.” So the next day, Franz Hasel went back to the house, walked upstairs, and returned the spool of thread right to the very spot where he had found it.
So, who was this soldier, Franz Hasel? What motivated this man, a soldier in a brutal war, to act so differently from almost everyone else around him?
Now, most people are familiar with the story of Adolf Hitler. Endless books and documentaries have been told of the saga of Hitler, a young German corporal in World War One, a failed art student who at one time was all but homeless.
RUTHLESS TAKEOVER
But in 1919, after World War One ended, his circumstances changed. The German army hired ex-corporal Hitler to spy on a small fanatical political group in Munich, called the German Labor Party. After attending one meeting, Hitler returned to the army headquarters, quit his job, and joined the German Labor Party! This one decision changed the course of history.
The Labor Party later changed its name to the National Socialist German Worker Party, NSDAP, or the Nazi party for short. Hitler, who joined in 1919, became its leader in 1926 and by 1933, the charismatic Adolf Hitler and the Nazis took over Germany.
After coming to power, the Nazis quickly and effectively eliminated any internal threats to their authority. Within two months, in March 1933, they publicly announced the opening of Dachau, a concentration camp near Munich for Hitler’s political opponents.
Why? Because they wanted everyone to know the consequences for not following their party. Either you obeyed the regime, or you and your family could find themselves in the Dachau camp.
HASEL TAKES A STAND
This was the era in which the story of Franz Hasel unfolded in 1939. As the war was about to begin, 40-year-old Hasel, the father of three young children, was drafted into the German Nazi army. As a Christian who did not want to carry a gun, he requested the medical corps but was denied.
Instead, Private Hasel was assigned to an elite group called the Pioneer Company 699. Their job was to build roads, bridges and fortifications ahead of the German army’s advance. It was dangerous work, because these Pioneers would often be entering enemy territory even before the German army itself did.
As the first weekend approached, Private Hasel asked to speak to his commanding officer and made the following request, “As you know, sir, I am a Christian, I follow the Bible and its teaching and set aside the 7th day of each week as a special day to worship God and strengthen my relationship with Him. I would like to be excused from reporting for duty on God’s day of worship.”
His lieutenant’s face turned beetroot red when he bellowed, “You must be mad, private!” This is the German Army. This battalion is going to war, and you want Saturday off. Under his breath he spat out, “It’s just my luck to be saddled with a religious nut!”
Hasel’s request did not endear him with the other soldiers either. Sarcastically, he was soon dubbed ‘carrot eater’ and ‘Bible reader.’ But Franz Hasel wanted to honour God and follow His principles.
So Hasel stood firm. The angry officer even threatened Hasel with a court martial, before he eventually agreed that he could have Saturdays off if he could get someone to take his place.
PROMOTION AND DEFIANCE
Amazingly, because Hasel became known for his honesty and integrity, he was promoted to the task of the clerk on the front lines and even awarded the Maltese Cross for his good moral influence on his company.
But it was during some more boot camp training in 1941, just before the company entered Russia, that Hasel was surprised to find he was especially good at target practice. He even soon became known as the sharpshooter of the company.
Hasel often thought about how he would react when he would face an enemy soldier, and wondered would he instinctively reach for his gun. He then remembered his promise to God not to take another man’s life. He didn’t want to use his sharpshooter skills to kill, so he devised a plan.
He took a piece of wood carved it into the shape of a revolver handle. Then he used shoe polish to paint the handle black, the same color as his revolver. Then one night, he went outside alone to a small lake nearby.
And there, under the cover of darkness, the private did something truly amazing that could have had him shot by his own officers. Hasel tossed his weapon into the water and replaced it with the fake wooden handle in his black leather holster. Private First Class Hasel was going to the Russian Front and was not even going to carry a real gun!
A soldier purposely throwing away his weapon? In almost any army in the world, such an act would be a serious crime. But in the Wehrmacht during World War II, it surely would have been a capital offence.
BITTER CONFLICT
It was on 30 June 1941, that the German army invaded the Soviet Union. It turned into the bitterest of conflicts, and the largest military confrontation in history. The losses on both sides were horrendous.
Around 27 million Soviet soldiers and civilians, and nearly 4 million German troops lost their lives along the Eastern Front. During those four years of brutality, there were 300,000 German casualties in the Battle of Stalingrad alone.
This series of battles called Operation Barbarossa included the largest armoured or tank clash in history, the Battle of Kursk. And it also included the 900-day siege of Leningrad. The vast scale of this warfare is almost unimaginable.
While advancing into Russian territory, Hasel’s unit was instructed to search through the houses in every captured village for any partisans and resistance fighters who may be hiding.
These partisans were a real threat to the soldiers and would often attack the advancing German troops. So Hasel and his company were told to immediately and indiscriminately shoot every person they found hiding.
ONE GOOD TURN
In one village as he was carefully searching a house, he entered one room and found it empty. But Hasel had the distinct impression that something was suspicious. He carefully looked around the room and then when he looked under the bed, he came face to face with a young man, staring right back at him.
Hasel knew that this young man would definitely be shot if he dragged him out or reported him. So the partisan and Hasel just looked at each other for what probably seemed like an eternity before Hasel turned and walked out of the bedroom. He didn’t report or even mention who he had seen.
Several weeks later, Hasel was assigned to patrol an important railway track. His duty was to make sure that no resistance fighters sabotaged or bombed the tracks. He was all alone on patrol when a group of Russian Cossacks suddenly appeared and rapidly charged at him on their horses. There was no way to escape. He braced himself for death, believing they would surely kill him.
The Cossacks quickly encircled him. Then to Hasel’s utter amazement, when he saw the face of the Cossack commander, it was the same young man he had seen hiding under the bed. They immediately recognized each other.
Then young Cossack commander pointed his gun at Hasel and said, “I could kill you now, but you were kind enough to save my life. So, I will spare your life!” Then he ordered his men to ride on.
DEATH SQUADS
Also, as the German Army bulldozed its way into Russia, special SS forces followed behind the Wehrmacht, or the army. This special forces group had one main goal: to kill any Jews.
These death squads were terrifying. They followed behind the regular army, and when the townspeople thought the army had moved on, these death squads would ride into town, ruthlessly round up any Jews and then shoot them all without mercy.
And even though it wasn’t the regular army itself which did the killing, many in the army knew what was happening behind them. And most soldiers, even if they had cared, did nothing. But not Private Hasel!
For Franz Hasel, the persecuted Jews desperately needed help. And so, every chance he got, after the Pioneer company stopped its advance, Hasel would quietly sneak back to the villages and towns they had overrun and warn the people.
“The SS is following in a day or two behind us,” he would say. “You will recognise them by their black uniforms with the skull-and-crossbones on their caps. When they get here, they will round the Jews up and murder them.”
Why is a private in the Wehrmacht warning Jews to flee the SS soldiers? Why did Private Hasel choose to do this, even at great personal risk to himself?
Well, there’s no question, Private Franz Hasel was a brave man. But what prompted Hasel to treat others with respect and kindness? It was because Hasel was a man of faith who followed the principles found in the Bible.
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT
There is a story in the Bible of someone who came to Jesus and asked him what was the most important commandment. Jesus answered like this:
“And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30. 31).
Franz Hasel followed this principle even during a war. He saw everyone, even the enemy as his neighbour. Now, there’s another interesting story that Jesus told about helping our neighbours, or those people around us.
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
So, he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’”
Then, in case anyone missed the point of what He was saying, Jesus answered the man’s question: “So which of these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves?” (Luke 10:30-36).
Of course, it is the one who cared for the wounded man. Hasel also did not distinguish between friend or foe. He cared for both his own wounded or dying comrades [and] the enemy Russian soldiers alike. He saw all as his neighbour.
During the invasion, the German army captured hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers as prisoners-of-war. Food was scarce and the ragged, defeated men were often starving. Hasel felt compassion for them and when his company was near a camp, he would take the leftover food from the Pioneer’s kitchen to share with them.
While fighting in the Caucasus region, Sergeant Erich noticed that Hasel was the one man in the company who did not get hurt during combat. The bullets always missed him. So, the sergeant said to Hasel, from now on, you will share my quarters and be my guardian angel.
SHARING DANIEL
So while living in the same quarters, Hasel took every opportunity to share the stories and prophecies in the Bible with the sergeant. Hasel particularly enjoyed sharing the prophecy in Daniel 2, until the commander banned him from talking about it.
But one evening the commander of the Pioneers, Hauptmann Meikus, asked Hasel to come to his quarters. That evening, Captain Meikus, who used to be a history professor before the war, and Hasel discussed the dates of the major world empires displayed on the small postcard sized picture of the Daniel 2 image that Hasel carried with him.
Hasel explained the image. The Head of Gold represent the kingdom of Babylon from 605 BC – 538 BC. The Chest of Silver represent the kingdom of Medo-Persia from 538 BC – 331 BC.
The Belly and Thighs of Bronze represent Greece from 331 BC – 168 BC. The Legs of Iron represent Rome from 168 BC – 476 AD.
As they went through the list of empires, Captain Meikus was amazed that the prophecy dates were all correct. When he came to the feet and toes of the image, he wanted to know what they meant. Hasel said he believed that the toes of iron and clay represented the divided kingdoms of Europe that would never unite.
Hasel said to the Captain, ‘“The only conclusion a Bible student can come to is that the Fuhrer cannot win the war. It is not possible for him to unite Europe and establish a 1000-year Reich.”
Hasel looked earnestly at the captain and said, “The Bible predictions have been proved accurate again and again. And if they are accurate here, then we are fighting a losing battle.
These words were treason, and the penalty was death. Captain Meikus thought carefully and then finally said, “Hasel, from now on, we will only operate a third of our motorized vehicles. We will save some gasoline so that when the end comes, we will have enough fuel to get back home.”
As the war against Russia inevitably came to an end, Hasel’s unit hurriedly retreated from the Caucasus region back to Germany. It was a mad dash to get to the American sector. Just minutes before the border closed, the unit crossed the River Enns into Germany.
Hasel was one of only seven soldiers from his 1,200-man unit who had survived and would return home. Hasel’s unit was asked to make a pile of their weapons. Hasel then unbuttoned his holster and threw his wooden revolver on the pile.
His friend was shocked and asked him, “What on earth is that thing?” “That’s my gun. I made it in Poland and got rid of the real one.” Sergeant Erich stared even harder. This was the man he had chosen to be his guardian angel during the war, and he didn’t even carry a proper gun.
A HIGHER CODE
Franz Hasel believed in the existence of a moral code that superseded everything else. For Franz Hasel, morality, right and wrong, were not cultural, not relative, or personal. Rather, they were part of a higher code of ethics that came from God.
For Hasel, this code, this law trumped everything else. No man-made regulations, no cultural norms, no socially accepted positions, and no utterance of Hitler or the Nazi army could take precedence over this law.
The intellectual postmodern world is filled with many who have told us that morals are cultural, relative, social, and that one society’s moral codes are no better or no worse than anyone else’s. Books have been written, seminars have been given, and movements have been started, all based on this idea.
But there’s something else. Knowing what’s right and wrong is one thing, but acting upon it is another.
And here is where Jesus comes in. The One who created that higher law, came to this earth in human form to follow that law, even though it meant His death on the cross. His death was for all humanity, for you and for me.
And because Jesus obeyed that higher law, regardless of the cost to Himself, Franz Hasel determined to do the same, regardless of the cost.
Jesus, His law, and His death on the cross, point us to a reality so much greater, so much more hopeful than what the world offers us. Is it time to reach out for something greater than what the world is giving you?
SPECIAL OFFER AND CLOSING PRAYER
If you would like to find out more about the prediction of the future that Hasel shared with his captain, and the higher moral code that so inspired his bravery and faith, then I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today.
It’s the easy to read booklet, A King, a Dream and You. This booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free. I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive the free gift we have for you today.
CONTACT DETAILS
If you’ve enjoyed our journey with Franz Hasel, who treated all people as his neighbour even in a war, and our reflections on what the Bible teaches on the future of this planet, then be sure to join us again next week, when we will share another of life’s journeys together. Until then, let’s listen to the words of Hasel’s favourite hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’.
A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
Our helper, He amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on Earth is not his equal.
Did we on our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing…
