Erwin König was reported to have been a German Wehrmacht sniper killed by the Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev during the Battle of Stalingrad.[1][2] Due to the lack of any Nazi records proving the existence of König and his achievements there is some doubt as to whether he existed at all or was an invention of Soviet propaganda.[3]
König is mentioned both in Zaitsev's memoirs Notes of a Sniper (a "Major Konings", potentially SS) and William Craig's 1973 non-fiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad.[4] According to Zaitsev, his duel with König took place over a period of three days in the ruins of Stalingrad.[1] In a post-war visit to Berlin,[when?] Zaitsev was allegedly confronted by a woman who told him that she was König's daughter, with Soviet authorities quickly evacuating Zaitsev to avoid any confrontation.[5]
A fictionalized account of the duel in the film Enemy at the Gates portrays Erwin König—played by Ed Harris—as the head of the Wehrmacht Sniper School.[6] He is sent to Stalingrad to take on the increasingly aggressive Soviet snipers.[7] Initially he is successful, killing four of Zaytsev's partners, but eventually he is outwitted by the Russian, portrayed by Jude Law.[8]
