Wilhelm Schneemelcher

He obtained through Hans Lietzmann a post researching Latin and Greek manuscripts at the Church Fathers Commission, however this came under the Prussian Academy of Sciences so in 1938 Schneemelcher was removed by the Nazi authorities due to being "politically unreliable", due to sympathies with the Confessing Church, and was forced to turn to making a living as a bookseller's assistant.

In 1939 he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht, and after the war he was a village pastor in Stöckheim near Northeim.

He completely revised and enlarged the older collection of Edgar Hennecke (1865–1951) to produce the Neutestamentlichen Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung in 1964, which was then translated into English at The New Testament Apocrypha by R. McL.

As editor he coordinated the work of dozens of scholars including Philip Vielhauer and Georg Streck.

His work is today commonly referred to as the "standard edition" of the New Testament Apocrypha.