Hans Schmidt and Erwin Schlünder
Hans Schmidt (17th September 1914 - 26th August 1944) and Erwin Schlünder (21st December 1921 - 27th August 1944)
Hans Schmidt was born in Berlin. He joined the socialist youth movement Sozialistische Arbeiter-Jugend. In 1935, he was imprisoned at the concentration camp Columbia in Berlin for several months after being charged with high treason. Hans Schmidt joined the Army in 1939.
Erwin Schlünder was born in Iserlohn. He was the youngest of the family’s three children. His parents were practising Catholics. Until September 1940, he worked in the office of a hardware factory. In October 1940, Schlünder joined the Reichsarbeitsdienst, the compulsory labour service, and was transferred to the army shortly afterwards. Schlünder and Schmidt knew each other since they had been stationed together in Italy. In January 1944, Schlünder served in Pieve a Nievole; after that, he was transferred to Albinea in the Reggio Emilia province, where Hans Schmidt had also been posted in 1944, serving as a radio operator in the communications centre.
Once in Albinea, Schmidt established contact with the partisans, and Schlünder joined the group. Together with three other comrades, they maintained contact with Italian partisans over several months. They intended to peacefully surrender the radio equipment and also the whole unit to the partisans. Their plan was discovered. During the subsequent interrogation on 26 th August 1944, Schmidt attempted to light a hand grenade and was immediately shot. Erwin Schlünder was executed the next day. Two hours before his execution, Schlünder wrote a few last lines to his parents: “7 August 1944: My Dears, Life is hard, and I have gone to the dogs. I go to my death believing in God. God grant that we will see each other again in heaven. Goodbye. Your Erwin.
After the end of the Second World War, Erwin Schlünder’s father petitioned in 1946 to have his son recognised as a victim of political persecution. The case was not decided for several years. The German authorities finally refused his application in 1958. They took the view that it was unclear whether Erwin Schlünder acted as he did from political conviction or for personal reasons. In September 1944, the court martial informed Mrs Schmidt of her husband’s death. As he had been charged with aiding the enemy, any kind of public show of grief was forbidden.
Schlünder in Uniform
On 26 March 1995, the Albinea municipality made Schmidt and Schlünder honorary citizens. A town twinning partnership was established between Albinea and the Berlin district of Treptow-Köpenick, where Hans Schmidt was born. The agreement was signed in September 1997 in Albinea and in June 1998 in Treptow-Köpenick. Don Ugoletti, Albinea’s priest, ensured that the graves of Hans Schmidt and Erwin Schlünder and the other murdered soldiers were marked and maintained. In recognition of his dedication, a square in the Berlin district of Treptow was named after him in 2008.