Wilhelm Eduard Schmid (April 12, 1893 – June 30, 1934), better known as Willi Schmid, was a German

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

, and an accidental victim of the Night of the Long Knives in a case of mistaken identity.

Biography

Born in 1893, Willi Schmid served in the Imperial Army in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, during which he was wounded in the stomach. A practising musician, he studied music under Christian Döbereiner, and founded the Munich Viol Quartet. He was also a well-respected music critic and wrote for the ''Münchener Neueste Nachrichten''. He was killed by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

SS during the Night of the Long Knives because his name was similar to one of the intended targets, apparently either SA-''

Gruppenführer __NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire de ...

'' Wilhelm Schmid, or an associate of Otto Strasser named Ludwig Schmitt.

William Shirer William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly w ...

's account in '' The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'' mentions that Schmid was playing the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

in his study, while his wife was preparing supper and his three children were playing in the adjacent room, when Nazi agents knocked on the door and took him away. His body was sent to his widow in a sealed casket four days later, with written instructions from the SS not to open it under any circumstances. Deputy Führer

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

visited the family a few days later to express condolences for the mistake and offer his widow a pension. Schmid's widow, Kate Eva (née Tietz), later emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(with the help of the covert anti-Nazi activist

Fritz Wiedemann Fritz Wiedemann (16 August 1891 in Augsburg – 17 January 1970 in Postmünster) was a German soldier and Nazi Party activist. He was for a time the personal adjutant to Adolf Hitler, having served with him in World War I. The two men subsequently ...

, who was with Hess during his visit) and became a US citizen in 1944. She died there in 1985. Schmid's friend, the philosopher

Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (; 29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history whose interests included mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best known ...

, commemorated him in a poem and letter in ''Reden und Aufsätze'' (''Collected Essays'', published in 1937). Schmid's daughter Duscha went on to marry the Austro-American theoretical physicist Victor Weisskopf, and later wrote a book about her father, ''Willi Schmid: A Life in Germany''.

References

1934 deaths Victims of the Night of the Long Knives German music critics People from Weilheim-Schongau People from Bavaria executed in Nazi concentration camps 1893 births German male non-fiction writers Accidental deaths in Germany German Army personnel of World War I German people who died in Dachau concentration camp {{Germany-writer-stub