Paul Otto Schmidt

Paul Otto Schmidt (1899-1970) was a prominent German translator that served as Chief Interpreter of the German Foreign Office during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.

Paul Otto Schmidt in The War That Came Early
Dr. Paul Otto Schmidt served as interpreter between Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain during the failed Munich Conference of September 1938. Hitler, who could only speak his native German, valued Schmidt because he could not just translate the words but also reproduce the exact tone and voice inflection of the original speaker. Thus, when word came that a Czech nationalist had assassinated the leader of the Sudeten German Party Konrad Henlein while in exile in Germany and Hitler announced that he was going to retaliate by declaring war on Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain and Hitler could announce each other that their countries were going to war like if they were speaking the same language.