Wilhelm was an Oberfeldwebel (Sergeant) in the Wehrmacht, who was celebrating along with four other soldiers the birth of his son in a tavern, where two of the Basterds were supposed to meet with Bridget von Hammersmark.
He was portaryed by Alexander Fehling.
Biography[]
Background information[]
He was born in Germany. He was married and had a baby, Maximilian, who was born in Frankfurt.
Chapter Four - OPERATION KINO[]
Wilhelm is seen at a table, in the La Louisiane tavern, in the French village of Nadine, drinking and celebrating the birth of his son, along with four of his comrades. Here, they accompanied Bridget von Hammersmark, who also took part of their guess card game. She stepped away when three of The Basterds, Archie Hicox, Wilhelm Wicki, and Hugo Stiglitz arrived, however they were caught in another guess the card game with German officer named Deiter Hellstrom, who figured out their identity. A gunfight erupts, killing almost everyone in the room. At the end, the only person standing was Wilhelm, who heard more of the Basterds upstairs. This is when Bridget Von Hammersmark reveals she is alive, and the commander of the Basterds, Aldo Raine, negotiates with Wilhelm to put all their guns down and let him come down to get Hammersmark. Wilhelm agrees, however does not put down his gun. Aldo explains to him if he does not put down his gun the others will drop grenades down and kill him. Wilhelm finally puts his gun down, saying to get Hammersmark out of his sight. Hammersmark then shoots him repeatedly, killing him.
Wilhelm's drunken activities indirectly expose the Basterd's plot to destroy the cinema as Hans Landa finds the signature napkin Bridget gave Wilhelm, exposing her true nature as a double agent and also leading to her own death.
Trivia[]
- In the original script, Wilhelm survived after being shot by von Hammersmark and told Landa on his hospital bed that she was a spy. The script also revealed that von Hammersmark shot Wilhelm to prevent him from revealing that she was a spy.
- The standoff between Aldo and Wilhelm during the La Louisiane scene is similar to a scene in Quentin Tarantino's other movie Kill Bill: Vol. 2 in which Beatrix Kiddo just finds out she is pregnant and is attacked by a hit woman. The two have a standoff in which she makes a deal with the hit woman to let her go as she is pregnant. Sgt. Wilhelm makes a deal with Aldo to let him go as he had become a father that night. The difference in the two scenarios is that Beatrix honors the deal and the hitwoman escapes, while Aldo honors the deal but Bridget von Hammersmark shoots and kills Sgt. Wilhelm after he calls her a traitor.