15/01/2023
Anton Schmid
This is the story of Anton Schmid, a N**i soldier who restores our belief in humanity by proving it possible to maintain an independence of thought and choose to cling to the highest ideals in a depraved world.
Anton Schmid was born in Vienna in 1900. His father was a baker. Both his parents were devout Roman Catholics. Schmid was educated in a catholic elementary school and remained a deeply religious believing catholic his entire life. As a boy, he was apprenticed as an electrician.
Vienna was rampant with antisemitism during those years. Perhaps as a teenager, he met Adolf Hi**er, 11 years his senior; rejected twice from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, penniless and living in homeless shelters. Both most likely listened to the fiery antisemitic rhetoric of the populist mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger, who fanned Austrian fears of being swamped by an influx of Eastern European Jews, who Lueger claimed were “Specialists in vile profits for the expropriation of the indigenous population.”
After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army in the First World War Schmid married, had one daughter, and opened a small radio store in Vienna.
When Germany annexed Austria in 1938 Schmid became a German citizen and when the Second World War broke out in 1939, he was drafted into the German army. In 1941, Schmid was stationed in Vilna Lithuania and placed in charge of an army unit responsible for reassigning lost soldiers. His headquarters were in the Vilna railway station. He was described as socially awkward and a simple sergeant.
On the eve of the holocaust, 80,000 Jews lived in Vilna. Vilna was known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania; an intellectual, cultural, and religious center for Lithuanian Jewry. The German army entered Vilna on June 26, 1941. By September more than 21,000 Jews were murdered in the Ponary forest. From his office, Schmid could see the collection points from which Jews were collected with great brutality.
“I want to tell you how all this came about. The Lithuanian military herded many Jews to a meadow outside of the town and shot them, each time around two thousand to three thousand people. On the way, they killed the children by hurling them against the trees.” (written in a letter to his family on 9 April 1942)
One day, as Schmid was walking on a Vina street 23-year-old women, jumped out from a doorway where she was hiding and begged this German soldier for help. She escaped from a roundup and was caught outside the ghetto after curfew, a crime punishable by death. It was a moment of truth for Schmid; one of those moments in life that defines and challenges our humanity. We can imagine him staring at this desperate Jewish woman tugging on his sleeve. Was he to turn her over to be killed or risk his own life to save her.
“We all must die but if I can choose whether to die as a murdered or a helper I choose death as a helper.” Schmid said later.
He hid her in his apartment. When he discovered that she was fluent in several languages and a stenographer, he hired her as a secretary in his office and gave her a work permit that saved her life.
After the murder of so many thousands of Jews, an office was formed to process Jewish property. Schmid was placed in charge of processing carpentry and upholstery stolen from the victims. Due to a lack of skilled workers, 150 Jews were given permits to sort through the materials, and saved from selections. However, in October 1941 the Germans canceled many permits to step up the murder of Jews in the ghetto. Out of the 150 Jews working in his office, Schmid was allocated only 15 permits for his workers and their families. The rest were to be sent to Ponary. Schmid drove 90 of his workers in Wehrmacht trucks to the nearby town of Lida, hoping that there they would escape from death.
In November 1941 Schmid hid Hermann Adler, a member of the Jewish underground, and his wife Anita, in his apartment in Vilna. His apartment was used as a meeting place for Jewish partisans. Together they devised a plan to save Jewish lives. Schmid transported 300 Jews from Vilna under the pretext that he was moving necessary Jewish workers to safer places.
Schmid was arrested in January 1942 and imprisoned at the Stefanska prison in Vilna. He was sentenced to death and executed on April 13, 1942, one of only 3 Wehrmacht soldiers executed for helping Jews.
Here is the letter he wrote to his wife and daughter before his ex*****on
“My dear Steffi,
As I think of you in joy and in sorrow, I inform you, my dearest, that my verdict has been announced today and that I must part from this world, for I have been sentenced to death. Please put your trust in God who decides all our destinies.
I could not change anything, otherwise I would have spared you and Greta all this. Please forgive me. I did not wish to cause you this pain, but unfortunately there is no way back. I am prepared to die since this is the will of God and His will must be done. You must reconcile yourself to this. And once again, I ask you two, the dearest to me in all the world, please forget the pain I’m causing you, and keep your peace. After all, all I did was to save human lives, even if they were Jews, and in doing so, I sealed my own fate. As I have always done, I acted only for the sake of others, and so I sacrificed everything for my fellow men.
My dear ones, I beg you again and again, please forget me. Everything is ordained, it is what fate willed. I conclude these lines and send my blessing and kisses to both of you and to all those close to me in this world and the next, where God will speedily take me into his arms.
Loving you for eternity,
Toni”
Report about Anton Schmid, written by Lonka Kozybrocka, member of the Dror (Freiheit) youth movement
This report was found in the Ringelbum Archives – the underground archive that operated in Warsaw during the Holocaust where documents, diaries, testimonies and other reports were gathered about the destruction of the Jews so that the world should know. Lonka, who was in the underground and served as a currier, was caught and killed in summer 1942
…. Soon one could easily distinguish between the "good" bosses in Vilna, who had a fair attitude to their Jewish workers, and those who were like beasts in human skin. Jewish workers in Vilna would tell about one place where the supervisor was a decent German, who sympathized with the workers, helped them and provided different services. This working place was at the railway station, in the offices of the so-called Versprengtenstelle, the authority that connected the soldiers who had lost their units….. The Jews told each other about the German who headed this unit and said, for example, that when Lithuanians caught his workers in the street and brought them to Lukishki prison, he personally came to the jailhouse and obtained their release.
He also informed them of planned German activities and where they would take place. He would come to the ghetto and advise Jews how to save themselves. (This was done also by some other German supervisors.) The supervisor I am talking about was Anton Schmid.
On Sylvester night he invited Jewish acquaintances to his apartment, while German officers were celebrating on the first floor. The table was laden with meat and other delicacies, but also doughnuts [to mark Hannukah] provided by the Pioneers [members of the Zionist movement]. For the entire evening Schmid sat with them and spoke freely of different topics. From time to time he would leave, and explained that he had to go upstairs, to the officers' club, so that his absence would not be noticed. Shortly afterwards he would return to his guests. He raised his glass and made a toast that the pioneers would see their dream come true. The Jews told him that in the Land of Israel he would receive the golden Magen David [Star of David] award. Schmid responded: "I will wear it with the greatest possible pride". He continuously stressed that he opposed the N**is and that he was weary of people regarding him as a N**i sympathizer. He never missed an opportunity to speak about the Fuehrer with irony ("you know, this is what the Fuehrer said…").
He had no resolute political views. His dream was a great and independent Austria within an economically united Central Europe. In order to prevent wars, he would say, countries needed to be connected by cultural and economic ties; so that all could live according to their convictions. He believed that an independent state of Israel would be established (he also believed in a new-old country and a big and independent Austria). He often convincingly argued that Hi**er would lose the war. He urged the Pioneers to save themselves. Mostly he asked them to leave the ghetto, to find some shelter and then go to Warsaw ("after all, you have many friends there who will help you"), etc. "If I wanted to return to my homeland, no one could stop me from doing so", he said. He was not after money, and only after a certain time did the rich Jews begin to make gifts to him. He trusted the Pioneers and respected them. When they would thank him, he would respond: "But we are human beings…" He wasn't a socialist, he loved free enterprise and stressed commerce developed the will and professional capability.
Schmid knew for some time that he was being followed, especially in the final period, when he expanded his activity. On 15 January [1942] he was in the ghetto, at Mrs. Glasman's house, where they were eating and drinking. The same night the military police thoroughly searched his apartment and waited for him until midnight. Since his soldiers loved him very much, they sent people to warn him….In the morning they conducted another six-hour search at Schmid's place. They took different items, including a large sum of money that belonged to the Pioneers. Schmid wasn't caught the same night. He disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him. Everybody hoped the henchmen would not capture him. When they told him he wasn't safe, he would respond: "come on, Schmid will manage on his own". They said that he was seen in Zambrow and other places. His friends tried to find him, but in vain. Only some time ago we heard that he is no longer alive. It happened in February 1942. His military ex*****on took place in the Lukishki prison in Vilna and a squad of soldiers shot him. The court said that he was sentenced to death because he was untrue to his military oath and that he had ties with Jews. They said the name of the sentenced man was Anton Schmid…..
In December 1941 a decree was made public ordering all Jews of Vilna to obtain white or yellow identification papers. The white ones were for those who didn't work, i.e. the unproductive Jews who were to be killed (liquidation in Ponary); and the yellow papers for workers who were permitted to live. Schmid made sure that as many as possible would receive the yellow papers that would protect them from certain death. In order to obtain information about what was planned for the Jews, Schmid went to high officials, to his army acquaintances and to civilian administrators to learn from them – through a friendly chat – what was planned for those "dirty" Jews, and when they would be killed. He would mock the Jews and say how easily they could be fooled, and at the same time tried to find out what the Germans were planning. As soon as he learned something new, he would tell his Jews and order them to tell their friends so that they could hide until the situation stabilized. Although among his people were holders of white papers – and they were many – he negotiated on their behalf like a dedicated father, without fear of being punished if he was found out. He put them in his working place and provided them with food and drink. He gave them soup and bread. In short, in those chaotic days of massacres he managed to save dozens of Jews with white papers from certain death….
In the end of 1941, a rumor spread among the Jews in Vilna that they were all destined to be killed, and that they would be a little safer among Belurussian peasants. Jews began to search for ways to escape from the hands of the Lithuanian henchmen. Schmid decided to examine the situation and find out if the Jews could remain in Vilna. He went on business to Lida, and there spoke about the Jews with the local commander's adjutant. He asked what was going to happen to the local Jews and was told that nothing would happen to them. He returned to Vilna with hope and began to send Jews in his vehicles from Vilna to Grodno, Lida and Bialystok. First he took care of those in danger – owners of white papers. Jewish Businessmen turned to him through a man by the name of Adler. He took 20,000 – 30,000 rubles for the service. The deal included 5-6 persons. He also saved poor people and even gave them a couple of hundred Marks so that they could live in their new location…..
Once, during an Aktion in the Vilna ghetto, Schmid entered the ghetto as usual to save his Jews. One Jewish woman who in the past had been an opera singer in Vienna recognized him. It turned out that they had lived in the same building before the war, and they had been on friendly terms. She called his name and described her tragic situation, saying that her husband was in hiding due to the Aktion. The name of the couple was Adler. Without hesitating, Schmid offered Mrs. Adler to move to his apartment the following day but forgot to give her his address. When he arrived in the ghetto the following day, he called the entire Jewish police force and asked them to find the Adlers for him, alive or dead. Finally, after thorough searches, they were found, and Schmid took them in his car and arranged a hiding place for them – not in the cellar under the workshops, but in his apartment. It should be stated that another two Jews hid in his apartment: the Jewish wife of a Lithuanian, who had A***n papers and was working as his secretary, and a German Jewish refugee by the name of Max who had military papers….
Until a certain point it was the Adlers who maintained the contact between the Pioneers and Schmid.
Schmid managed to transfer 50 people of the movement from Vilna to Lida and Bialystok. He sent 20 people to a mine near Vilna where they worked. In addition, he had sent many people to Belorussia. He was arrested two days before another group was supposed to leave for Bialystok. The travel papers were already in his hands and he had planned to go to Shavli, where he wanted to get Pioneers out of the ghetto.
In a letter to his friends in Palestine, written in April 1943, Mordechai Tenenbaum describes Anton Schmid
“We should remember Anton Schmied, a German Feldwebel [corporal], from Vienna, who risked his life to save hundreds of Jews from the Vilna ghetto and became a loyal ally of our movement and a friend of the author of this letter. He was killed by the gendarmes because of his ties to us.”
Yitzhak Zuckerman, a member of the Zionist movement in an essay about Tenenbaum: “He [Tenenbaum] once told us how he saved our comrades in Vilna, how he moved the group to Bialystock with the help of the Austrian Feldwebel, Anton Schmid. He described every detail about this man: who he was, where he had come from, what he looked like and how he, Mordechai, had met him. We listened to this extraordinary tale with open mouths. A German soldier – a saint. He saved Jews; his heart was into Jewish matters; his life was invested in these matters and he was killed because of them. From that time Schmid became one of us, a family member.”
From: Mordehai Tenenbaum-Tamaroff from: Pages from Fire (Hebrew),
May his memory be blessed.
