Hiwi (volunteer)

Hiwi is a German word, an abbreviation of Hilfwilliger, or voluntary assitant. While it is of common usage in German language, e.g., it is used for volunteer (non-staff) teaching assistants, it was entered into several languages during the World War II, when German troops enlisted voluneers from the occupied teritories for supplementary service (drivers, cooks, hospital attendants, ammunition cariers, messengers, sappers, etc.).

This term from these WWII times is ofter associated with ism, an in the case of the occupied Soviet -- with anti-Bolshvism (and widely presented by Germans as such), but in many cases joining the hiwi forces was the matter of survival.