Editing Middenvader Commissie (section)

== Assassination and dissolution ==

Several days after the end of the second commission, [[Assassination of Ferdinand Schroeter|Ferdinand Schroeter was found dead]] with multiple gunshot wounds.

Family records and later accounts commonly interpret the killing as strategically motivated: Ferdinand’s continued influence was viewed as a structural threat to the durability of the Rotterdam-West faction. His death removed the most effective internal advocate for unity and continuity.

=== Closure of Schroeter Traktoren ===

Following Ferdinand’s death, the risk of escalation into full-scale intra-family armed conflict increased substantially. Although the commissions themselves involved only Schroeters, external pressure intensified after the killing.

Noord authorities and representatives of other families urged the Schroeters to prevent a wider conflict by dismantling the institutional object of dispute. Under this pressure, the Schroeters agreed to dissolve Schroeter Traktoren entirely.

In July 1959, approximately three weeks after Ferdinand Schroeter’s death, Schroeter Traktoren closed its factories and ceased operations.

A formal truce was signed stipulating that Schroeter Traktoren would never be re-established.