Erwin König
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- The title of this article contains the character ö. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Erwin Koenig.
Erwin König (died 1942) (also known as Heinz Thorvald) was an apparently apocryphal German major, propagated by the Soviets as the best World War II enemy sniper, with more than 400 kills. While Soviet sources pitted him against Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev in their propaganda of the time, neither the name Erwin König nor Heinz Thorvald have been found in any German records and some historians postulate that he never actually existed.
After the war, Zaitsev's writings referred to the sniper he actually encountered during the Battle of Stalingrad as Heinz Thorvald, which was reportedly the name within the documents found on his body. The name was arrogated by author David L. Robbins in his 1999 novel War of the Rats, although he argues that Thorvald was an SS colonel (Standartenführer), and was originally an instructor at the Wehrmacht underground headquarters in Zossen.
The character of Major König was given a major role in the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates, in which he was played by Ed Harris.
Historians have continued to question the existence of this seemingly fictitious character. Listed below are a few of the reasons which suggest that he never existed:
- No records of the SS ever being in Stalingrad have been found.
- The SS had very few snipers, as they viewed this role as a dishonorable way to fight. Sniping was a task for the Wehrmacht.
- No active sniper was ever given a rank as high as Major (Sturmbannführer), as snipers were expected to serve on the battlefield, not to lead.
- At the end of the war, Germany's best documented sniper was a 21-year-old Private (Gefreiter) named Matthäus Hetzenauer, with a total of only 345 confirmed kills, compared to König's supposed 400-plus confirmed kills.
- Soviet propaganda was rife with fictitious stories to boost morale during a time when the war was so uncertain. The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point for the German offensive into Russia.
