Willi Schmid

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Wilhelm Eduard Schmid (died 1934), better known as Willi Shmid, was a German music critic, and an accidental victim of the Night of the Long Knives in a case of mistaken identity.

Schmid studied music under Christian Döbereiner, and founded the Munich Viol Quartet.[1] He was also a well respected music critic, and wrote for the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten.[2] He was killed by the Nazi SS during the Night of the Long Knives due to having a similar name to one of the intended targets, apparently either an SA leader named Willi Schmidt,[3] or an associate of Otto Strasser named Ludwig Schmitt.[4] Rudolf Hess visited the family a few days later to express condolences for the mistake and offer his widow a pension.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harry Haskell (1996). The Early Music Revival: A History. Courier Dover, p. 45. ISBN 0486291626. 
  2. ^ William L. Shirer (1990). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Simon and Schuster, p. 223. ISBN 0671728687. 
  3. ^ a b Matthew Hughes and Chris Mann (2002). Inside Hitler's Germany: Life Under the Third Reich. Brassey's, p. 98. ISBN 1574885030. 
  4. ^ Ian Kershaw (2000). Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris. W. W. Norton & Co., p. 515. ISBN 0393046710.