Anton Schmid, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Anton Schmid

Austrian Soldier and Righteous Among the Nations

Date of Birth: 09-Jan-1900

Place of Birth: Vienna, Austria

Date of Death: 13-Apr-1942

Profession: resistance fighter, soldier

Nationality: Austria

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Anton Schmid (9 January 1900 – 13 April 1942) was an Austrian recruit in the Wehrmacht who saved Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania.
A devout but apolitical Roman Catholic and an electrician by profession, Schmid was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I and later into the Wehrmacht during World War II.
Put in charge of an office to return stranded German soldiers to their units in late August 1941, he began to help Jews after being approached by two pleading for his intercession.
Schmid hid Jews in his apartment, obtained work permits to save Jews from the Ponary massacre, transferred Jews in Wehrmacht trucks to safer locations, and aided the Vilna Ghetto underground.
It is estimated that he saved as many as 300 Jews before his arrest in January 1942.
He was executed on 13 April. After the war, Schmid was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for his efforts to help Jews and was seen as a symbol of the few Germans who defied their government's extermination program.
His reception was more conflicted in Germany and Austria, where he was still viewed as a traitor.
The first official commemoration of him in Germany did not occur until 2000, but he is now hailed as an example of civil courage for Bundeswehr soldiers to follow.