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Stephen King's 11/22/63 - part 2 (re: Volkmar Schmidt)
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Canuck
Sep 24, 2012, 4:15:49 PM9/24/12
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In the course of his time-travel novel about the JFK assassination, King
describes the lead-up to the attempted assassination of Gen. Walker,
suggesting, incorrectly, that Oswald was encouraged to kill Walker by
George DeMohrenschildt. In fact, a lengthy discussion about Walker and
comparisons to Hitler took place at a party in Feb. 1963 between Oswald
and a German geologist named Volkmar Schmidt, who worked at Magnolia Labs.
in Dallas. King makes only brief reference to a party which the Oswalds
attended, but makes no reference to Schmidt and his conversation with
Oswald. Amazingly, Schmidt apparently did not connect the Walker shooting
to Oswald when he learned about it, as I discovered when I spoke to him in
the early 1990s. Had he made the seemingly obvious connection and
reported his conversation with Oswald to the police, Oswald would likely
have been arrested and charged with the Walker shooting. However, years
later he did suggest in several interviews that he might have contributed
to Oswald's decision to shoot Walker (possibly as a result of our
conversations). As I mentioned in an earlier posting, Volkmar Schmidt
died in Calgary, Alberta earlier this year. No mention of his connection
to Oswald is made in a lengthy obituary published in the CALGARY HERALD,
nor by two friends who commented on his passing. Dr. Schmidt had
mentioned to me in one of our telephone conversations that he had kept in
touch with DeMohrenschildt almost up to the time of his death.
King makes reference in the "Afterword" section of his book to several
books that he found invaluable in his research, including CASE CLOSED and
LEGEND, both of which make reference to Volkmar Schmidt. Posner quotes
from an FBI report on Schmidt, in which he described Oswald as being a
"violent person". Epstein describes the conversation between Schmidt and
Oswald in great detail. Consequently, it's quite puzzling why King
decided to leave Schmidt out of his novel. Any suggestions as to why? -
prwhitmey (Canuck)
describes the lead-up to the attempted assassination of Gen. Walker,
suggesting, incorrectly, that Oswald was encouraged to kill Walker by
George DeMohrenschildt. In fact, a lengthy discussion about Walker and
comparisons to Hitler took place at a party in Feb. 1963 between Oswald
and a German geologist named Volkmar Schmidt, who worked at Magnolia Labs.
in Dallas. King makes only brief reference to a party which the Oswalds
attended, but makes no reference to Schmidt and his conversation with
Oswald. Amazingly, Schmidt apparently did not connect the Walker shooting
to Oswald when he learned about it, as I discovered when I spoke to him in
the early 1990s. Had he made the seemingly obvious connection and
reported his conversation with Oswald to the police, Oswald would likely
have been arrested and charged with the Walker shooting. However, years
later he did suggest in several interviews that he might have contributed
to Oswald's decision to shoot Walker (possibly as a result of our
conversations). As I mentioned in an earlier posting, Volkmar Schmidt
died in Calgary, Alberta earlier this year. No mention of his connection
to Oswald is made in a lengthy obituary published in the CALGARY HERALD,
nor by two friends who commented on his passing. Dr. Schmidt had
mentioned to me in one of our telephone conversations that he had kept in
touch with DeMohrenschildt almost up to the time of his death.
King makes reference in the "Afterword" section of his book to several
books that he found invaluable in his research, including CASE CLOSED and
LEGEND, both of which make reference to Volkmar Schmidt. Posner quotes
from an FBI report on Schmidt, in which he described Oswald as being a
"violent person". Epstein describes the conversation between Schmidt and
Oswald in great detail. Consequently, it's quite puzzling why King
decided to leave Schmidt out of his novel. Any suggestions as to why? -
prwhitmey (Canuck)
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