Saturday, February 1, 2020

A WWII German Soldier Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice & a GIVEAWAY

by Cindy K. Stewart

Vilnius, Lithuania Old Town Skyline. Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Courtesy of Wikipedia

During the early years of WWII, the Soviets occupied Lithuania in the Baltics. In June of 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, including the Baltics and captured Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Vilnius was twenty-five percent Jewish and was an "important center of Jewish cultural life in Eastern Europe." 


Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

By late summer of 1941, the SS Einsatzgruppen, Hitler's elite killing squads, began taking Jewish men, women, and children to large pits in the Ponary Forest outside Vilnius to shoot them. Tens of thousands of Jews as well as Poles and Russians were murdered there. 


Site of the Ponary massacre, where the German Nazis and their collaborators executed
up to 100,000 people of various nationalities. About 70,000 of them were Jews.
Photo by Avi1111 DR. AVISHAI TEICHER. License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

When WWII began, 39-year old German shopkeeper Toni Schmid from Vienna, Austria was drafted into the German army. "He had no love for the Nazis or for Hitler" but was a deeply committed Christian. Schmid held the rank of sergeant and ran a post in the rear-echelon of the army "for stragglers and other troops separated from their units." In 1941 he was sent to Vilnius where he witnessed SS troops murdering Jewish children. Horrified, he wanted to help the Jews but didn't know how.

One night Sergeant Schmid walked down a dark street in Vilnius, and a desperate, young Jewish woman stepped out of the shadows and pleaded with  Schmid to protect her from the SS death squads. He took her to his apartment for the night and the following day to a Catholic priest he knew. The priest issued the woman a certificate of membership from his church. Schmid helped her obtain an official identity card and an apartment to rent by telling the German officials that she was a civilian employee from his military unit, and the Soviets had taken her documents when they retreated. 

Next, Sergeant Schmid had the opportunity to help a young Jewish man also hiding from the death squads. Schmid gave the young man a German army uniform and the military identity papers of a German soldier who'd died but his death had not been reported. Then Schmid installed the young man as a military aide in his office.

One of Schmid's duties was to oversee workshops manned by convalescing German soldiers, Russian POW's, and Jews with skills needed for the war effort. Although he was only allowed to employ fifteen Jews, Schmid "issued enough documents to bring in dozens of Jewish workers."

Under the cover of darkness, Schmid visited the Vilnius ghetto and supplied the Jews with "food, medicine and milk-filled baby bottles he had kept warm in his pockets." He warned the ghetto residents when Nazi raids were about to take place. Some of Schmid's Jewish workers were caught in roundups, and he went to the local prison and obtained their release. He hid Jews "in the covered rear of trucks bound for German-occupied areas of the the Soviet Union," hoping they would be safer than they were in Lithuania."

A Jewish resistance movement formed in the Vilnius ghetto, and Sergeant Schmid secretly advised its leaders. He "helped transport Jewish resistance fighters out of Vilnius," told them "of pending German operations," and even supplied them with stolen German weapons. He also "allowed resistance members to meet in his apartment."

Schmid's good deeds did not escape the notice of the Gestapo, and agents began following him. They raided his apartment, but he was visiting the ghetto at the time. Some of the soldiers who worked under Schmid located him before he arrived home and warned him that Gestapo agents were waiting at his apartment. He fled but after several weeks was caught and sentenced to death.  

On April 13, 1942, Sergeant Schmid was executed by a Nazi firing squad. His "last words were the Lord's Prayer." Before his death, he "had enabled almost 300 Jews to escape capture or murder by the Nazis in Lithuania."

The night before his execution, Sergeant Schmid wrote a letter to his wife and daughter in Austria. 

"'I am informing you, my dearest that I must depart from this world, 
I am sentenced to death. Please remain strong and trust in our dear 
God, who decides the destiny of each of us....Now I close my last lines, 
the last I can write to you, and send my love.'"

Sergeant Schmid took to heart Christ's teaching that "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Only Sergeant Schmid gave his life for strangers.


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Source (including quotes):

Gragg, Rod. My Brother's Keeper. Center Street, 2016.

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Cindy Stewart, a high school social studies teacher, church pianist, and inspirational historical fiction author, placed second in the 2019 North Texas Romance Writers Great Expectations contest, semi-finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis contest, and won ACFW’s First Impressions contest in the historical category. Cindy is passionate about revealing God’s handiwork in history. She resides in North Georgia with her college sweetheart and husband of thirty-eight years and near her married daughter, son-in-law, and four adorable grandchildren. She’s currently writing a fiction series set in WWII Europe.


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GIVEAWAYLeave a comment below to enter the drawing for a paperback copy of Sarah Sundin's brand new WWII novel, The Land Beneath Us. You may earn an extra entry by sharing this post on social media. Don't forget to leave your e-mail address and let me know if you shared. The giveaway ends on Monday, 2/3, at 8 PM EST.


41 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi, Kim. I love Sarah's books too! Thank you for stopping by.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for this chance to win The Land Beneath Us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A powerful story, Cindy. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! That we would all live as fearlessly as this man.
    bcrug(at)twc(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for entering, Connie. I enjoy your messages each month. :)

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  5. WOW this is incredible. I love to hear about these kind of things. Thank you for sharing.
    I shared on FB and twitter
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Lori. Thank you for stopping by and for sharing on FB and Twitter.

      Delete
  6. Amazing person. Please sign me up.
    Theresa Norris
    weceno at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for leaving a comment, Theresa. I signed you up. :)

      Delete
  7. Thank you for sharing about this brave man!
    lindajhutchins(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you, Cindy, for sharing this inspiring story. I've been reading all your blog posts set in this era. They are so rich with history.
    patjeannedavis@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pat, thank you so much for reading my blog posts each month and for your kind words. It's rewarding to learn that the posts are encouraging to our readers. :)

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  9. Cindy, Shared on FB.
    patjeannedavis@comcast.net

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  10. Thanks so much for introducing Sergeant Schmid to us. We know his sacrifice did not go unnoticed in heaven and now it is also know to many of us here on earth. Thank you for bringing this inspiring story to our attention. Thanks also for the giveaway.
    bettimace(at)gmail(dot)com

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  11. Interesting story, never heard that story before, incredible man

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  12. No need to enter me for the giveaway, but I wanted to thank you for your fascinating post. My father and grandparents fled Estonia after the war, and Schmidt's story has special meaning to me. What a brave man to defy the Nazis for so long. God bless his descendants. He truly gave his life as a martyr.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a great post! Thank you for sharing!
    mauback55 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh wow! I would love to win this beautiful book.
    grandmama_Brenda(at)yahoo(dot)com
    I shared on Twitter

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love historical writing especially WW2. I have shared this on Facebook and would love to read. jlrich7@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. As a U.S. history teacher, I can’t wait to share this story with my students. Thank you for sharing! phili48girl@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you for this fascinating post! Sarah Sundin is one of my favorite authors! I shared giveaway on Pinterest.
    psalm103and138atgmaildotcom

    ReplyDelete
  18. This title is going to the top of my TBR list.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow! How amazing. Thank you so much.
    campbellamyd at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a great story! Thanks for sharing.

    amybradsher@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a touching and informative post. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a great tale, and amazing sacrifice of Sergeant Schmid.

    pattymh2000(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  23. What an amazing man to be so brave and help so many. I always enjoy learning about true stories like this. Thanks for the chance to win the book as well!

    LLWaltz [at] gmail [dot] com

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  24. I hadn't heard of Sergeant Schmid. It's always heartening to hear of these heroes.

    tlw131 [at] gmail [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  25. Amazing! Thank you for sharing. csilyd (at) gmail (dot) com I most definitely shared.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Such an amazing sacrifice and I love all of Sarah Sundin books. She is such a brilliant writer that it feels like your there with the characters

    ReplyDelete
  27. Thank you for sharing. I love learning new things about WWII. kbridgewater81 at Gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  28. I absolutely love Sarah’s books! WWII is my favorite time period. I study everything I can get my hands on.

    emsreviewsbooks (at) gmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  29. And the winner is ... Lydia! Congratulations, Lydia. I'll be sending you an e-mail shortly.

    ReplyDelete