Willi Schmid

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. [cite book | author = Harry Haskell | title = The Early Music Revival: A History | publisher = Courier Dover | year = 1996 | id = ISBN 0486291626 | pages = p. 45] He was also a well respected music critic, and wrote for the "Münchener Neueste Nachrichten". [cite book | author = William L. Shirer | title = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany | publisher = Simon and Schuster | year = 1990 | id = ISBN 0671728687 | pages = p. 223] 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,cite book | author = Matthew Hughes and Chris Mann | title = Inside Hitler's Germany: Life Under the Third Reich | publisher = Brassey's | year = 2002 | id = ISBN 1574885030 | pages = p. 98] or an associate of Otto Strasser named Ludwig Schmitt. [cite book | author = Ian Kershaw | title = Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris | publisher = W. W. Norton & Co. | year = 2000 | id = ISBN 0393046710 | pages = p. 515] Rudolf Hess visited the family a few days later to express condolences for the mistake and offer his widow a pension.

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