Wikipedia's first sentence called it “german soldier who”. Today it says “austrian wehrmacht recruit who saved jews during the holocaust in”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2010
Anton Schmid (January 9, 1900 – April 13, 1942) was a German soldier who, during World War II in Vilnius , Lithuania , was executed by his superiors for helping 250 Jewish men, women, and children escape from extermination by the Nazi SS during the European Jewish Holocaust . He did this by hiding them, supplying them with false ID papers and helping them escape.1Anton Schmid was an electrician who owned a small radio shop in Vienna . Drafted into the German army after the Anschluss of 1938, Schmid found himself stationed near Vilnius in the autumn of 1941. The Germans had entered Lithuania shortly before. As a sergeant of the Wehrmacht , he witnessed the herding of Jews into two ghettos and the shooting of thousands of them in nearby Ponary . In a letter to his wife, Stefi, Schmid described his horror at the sight of mass murder and of children being beaten on the way. He went on: "You know how it is with my soft heart. I could not think and had to help them." The post-war Federal Republic of Germany renamed a military base in Rendsburg "Feldwebel-Schmid-Kaserne" in honor for his courage. In Haifa , Israel, the entry to town from the southern freeway is named "Anton Schmid Circus" in his honour. His last words in a letter to his family: „Ich habe nur als Mensch gehandelt und wollte ja niemandem weh tun.“ ("I have only acted as a human and I did not want to hurt anyone.") When his conviction became known in Vienna, several neighbours talked snidely to Mrs Schmid about the „Landesverräter“ (Traitor of his Country). Someone smashed one of her house's window panes. Yad Vashem awarded his widow the medal ' Righteous Among the Nations ' which bears the inscription: "Whoever saves one life - saves the world entire." To get the title righteous among the nations Anton Schmid had to have done certain things. A person can be considered for the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" when the survivors' testimony or other documentation, clearly demonstrates that a non-Jewish person risked his or her life, freedom, and safety, in order to rescue one or several Jews from the threat of death or deportation without exacting monetary compensation or other rewards. This applies equally to rescuers who have since died. Also the person or people that were rescued must provide any documents that showed how a person made contact with the person he or she rescued and any other documents showing where either of these two people went after they were saved or saved another.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 366385842.
The opening as it stood in 2015 14 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Anton Schmid (January 9, 1900, Vienna , Austria – April 13, 1942, Vilnius , Lithuania ) was an Austrian conscript to the Wehrmacht in World War II who, as a sergeant (feldwebel) in Vilnius , Lithuania , was executed by his superiors for helping 250 Jewish men, women, and children escape from extermination by the Nazi SS during the European Jewish Holocaust .He did this by hiding them and supplying them with false ID papers.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660028254.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
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.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 951187663.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Austrian Soldier, born 1900 For the 19th century printer, see Anton Edler von Schmid . 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. Schmid was court-martialed for actively protecting Jews, sentenced to death, and shot on 13 April 1942. 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.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1173565632.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Austrian soldier (1900–1942) For the 19th century printer, see Anton Edler von Schmid .Anton Schmid (9 January 1900 – 13 April 1942) was an Austrian Wehrmacht recruit 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. Schmid was court-martialed for actively protecting Jews, sentenced to death, and shot on 13 April 1942. 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 for decades. 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.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1282499288. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “german soldier who”. Today it says “austrian wehrmacht recruit who saved jews during the holocaust in”. Read the current article and compare.
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
german soldier who
Now
austrian wehrmacht recruit who saved jews during the holocaust in
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
