Fritz Beckhardt
Encyclopedia
Vizefeldwebel Fritz Beckhardt (27 March 1889 – 13 January 1962), Grand Duchy of Hesse War Honor Decoration, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross
First and Second Class, Grand Duchy of Hesse Bravery Medal
, Bavarian Military Merit Cross
, Baden War Merit Cross
, black Wound Badge
, Hamburg Field Honor Badge, Cross of Honor
, was a German Jewish fighter ace in World War I. The Nazis later expunged him from Luftwaffe
history because his valorous war record of 17 aerial victories belied their assertions that Jews were inherently cowardly.
, Rheinhessen, Germany. His father was Abraham Beckhardt.
Prior to World War I, he had worked in a grocery store, then in a menswear warehouse in Hamburg
. As part of his apprenticeship in textiles, he worked in Bingen
, Hadamar
, and Hamburg
. During this prewar period, he served in Infanterie-Regiment No. 143 from 1907 to 1909.
By 1914, he was working in an uncle's clothing factory in Marseilles, France. He repatriated himself to Germany to once again serve in the infantry, until 1916.
On 3 August 1914, Beckhardt volunteered to serve in Company 12 of Infanterie-Regiment Graf Bose (1. Thüringisches) Nr. 31. On 30 November, he transferred to Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 86
. During his service with this regiment, he earned both the First and Second Class Iron Cross
.
, where he served from 17 February 1918 through to 20 May 1918; Hermann Göring also served in Jasta 26. As well, Göring moved up to command Jagdstaffel 27
, which shared many of the same airfields with Jasta 26 over an eight month period.
Rather ironically, Vizfeldwebel Beckhardt's personal insignia, which was featured on at least three of his airplanes, was a swastika; however, the swastika at that time was not yet an anti-Semitic symbol. Also, Beckhardt's swastika turned the opposite direction as the Nazi symbol.
When the armistice ended the war on November 11, 1918, he refused to surrender his fighter plane. Instead, two days later, he flew his Siemens-Schuckert D.III
into Switzerland and was interned until 1919.
By war's end, Beckhardt was a member of the League of Jewish Soldiers at the Front.
In 1936 he drove a couple of Jewish brothers named Frohwein to the Belgian border so they could flee the Gestapo. The Frohweins later opened a kosher butchery in Golders Green, London.
In 1937 Beckhardt was accused of having sexual relations with a non-Jewish "Aryan" woman. As a result of the trial on 14 December 1937, he was convicted and sent to prison for a year and nine months. After his time in prison he was taken in protective custody to a penal company in Buchenwald concentration camp
as prisoner no. 8135. Upon his release in March 1940, it was written in his records by the SS that he had scored 17 victories as a fighter pilot during World War I.
had interceded on the grounds of sentiment towards his old comrade in arms. Beckhardt's lawyer, Berthold Guthman, had served with both Göring and Beckhardt during World War I. (Guthman, who was Jewish, died in KZ camp Auschwitz on 29 September 1944).
Fritz and Rosa Emma Beckhardt escaped to neutral Lisbon, Portugal, thence to England. After a brief internment on the Isle of Man, the Beckhardt family reunited and moved in with one of the Froweins. In London he reunited with his two children Kurt and Sue Hilde who had been brought to England by the "Kindertransport
"-Organizations (Refugee Children's Movement (RCM)). The RCM had its seat in London, Bloomsbury house. It consisted of many Jewish and Christian organisations.
In 1950, Fritz Beckhardt returned to Wiesbaden and recovered his house and shop and a part of his other property through legal action. He and his son Kurt then opened the first self-serve grocery in Wiesbaden. Fritz Beckhardt ran the grocery until his death on 13 January 1962. His death was caused by several strokes. He and his wife are buried at the cemetery of Wiesbaden - Sonnenberg.
His son Kurt lived in a camp in Barham, Claydon (Suffolk), in different hostels in Sheffield and in Golders Green, London until he returned with his father to Germany. He is now living in Bonn, Germany. His daughter Suse Hilde became a British subject in January 1954 and lived in London.
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
First and Second Class, Grand Duchy of Hesse Bravery Medal
Bravery Medal
The Bravery Medal is a bravery decoration awarded to Australians. It is awarded for acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances. The BM was created in February 1975. The decorations recognise acts of bravery by members of the community. They selflessly put themselves in jeopardy to protect the...
, Bavarian Military Merit Cross
Military Merit Cross (Bavaria)
The Bavarian Military Merit Cross was that kingdom's main decoration for bravery and military merit for enlisted soldiers...
, Baden War Merit Cross
War Merit Cross
The War Merit Cross was a decoration of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, which could be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel...
, black Wound Badge
Wound Badge
Wound Badge was a German military award for wounded or frost-bitten soldiers of Imperial German Army in World War I, the Reichswehr between the wars, and the Wehrmacht, SS and the auxiliary service organizations during the Second World War. After March 1943, due to the increasing number of Allied...
, Hamburg Field Honor Badge, Cross of Honor
Cross of Honor
The Cross of Honor, also known as the Honor Cross or, popularly, the Hindenburg Cross, was a commemorative medal inaugurated on July 13, 1934 by Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg for those soldiers of Imperial Germany who fought in World War I...
, was a German Jewish fighter ace in World War I. The Nazis later expunged him from Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
history because his valorous war record of 17 aerial victories belied their assertions that Jews were inherently cowardly.
Early life
Fritz Beckhardt was born in WallertheimWallertheim
Wallertheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
, Rheinhessen, Germany. His father was Abraham Beckhardt.
Prior to World War I, he had worked in a grocery store, then in a menswear warehouse in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. As part of his apprenticeship in textiles, he worked in Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
, Hadamar
Hadamar
Hadamar is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found the Hadamar Memorial...
, and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. During this prewar period, he served in Infanterie-Regiment No. 143 from 1907 to 1909.
By 1914, he was working in an uncle's clothing factory in Marseilles, France. He repatriated himself to Germany to once again serve in the infantry, until 1916.
On 3 August 1914, Beckhardt volunteered to serve in Company 12 of Infanterie-Regiment Graf Bose (1. Thüringisches) Nr. 31. On 30 November, he transferred to Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 86
Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 86
Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 86 was a reserve infantry regiment in the German Imperial Army organized during the mobilization period of August 1914, and remained in service through to the end of the First World War.-Organization:...
. During his service with this regiment, he earned both the First and Second Class Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
.
Aerial Service
He then trained as a pilot at FEA 5 at Hannover in January, 1917. His first operational assignment, from 29 August to 14 November 1917, was with FA 3, which flew exceptionally long reconnaissance missions. He transferred to Shusta 11. He attended Jastaschule 1 to upgrade to fighter pilot status. He then went on to Jagdstaffel 26Jagdstaffel 26
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 26 was a World War I "hunting group" of the Luftstreitkräfte, which was the forerunner to the Luftwaffe. As one of the original German fighter squadrons, the unit would score 177 verified aerial victories, including four observation balloons destroyed...
, where he served from 17 February 1918 through to 20 May 1918; Hermann Göring also served in Jasta 26. As well, Göring moved up to command Jagdstaffel 27
Jagdstaffel 27
Jagdstaffel 27 , commonly abbreviated to Jasta 27 was a fighter squadron of the German air service during World War I....
, which shared many of the same airfields with Jasta 26 over an eight month period.
Rather ironically, Vizfeldwebel Beckhardt's personal insignia, which was featured on at least three of his airplanes, was a swastika; however, the swastika at that time was not yet an anti-Semitic symbol. Also, Beckhardt's swastika turned the opposite direction as the Nazi symbol.
When the armistice ended the war on November 11, 1918, he refused to surrender his fighter plane. Instead, two days later, he flew his Siemens-Schuckert D.III
Siemens-Schuckert D.III
-Bibliography:* Gray, Peter and Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 1962. ISBN 0-93385-271-1.* Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. The Complete Book of Fighters. London: Salamander Books, 1994. ISBN 0-83173-939-8....
into Switzerland and was interned until 1919.
By war's end, Beckhardt was a member of the League of Jewish Soldiers at the Front.
Between the wars
In 1926, Beckhardt married Rosa Emma Neumann in Wiesbaden, Germany. He then ran his father-in-law's grocery store until 1934. When the Nazis began their boycott of Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933, he moved from the suburb of Sonnenberg, where he had been doing business, to the center of Wiesbaden. There he had a business that specialized in edible oils and fats.In 1936 he drove a couple of Jewish brothers named Frohwein to the Belgian border so they could flee the Gestapo. The Frohweins later opened a kosher butchery in Golders Green, London.
In 1937 Beckhardt was accused of having sexual relations with a non-Jewish "Aryan" woman. As a result of the trial on 14 December 1937, he was convicted and sent to prison for a year and nine months. After his time in prison he was taken in protective custody to a penal company in Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
as prisoner no. 8135. Upon his release in March 1940, it was written in his records by the SS that he had scored 17 victories as a fighter pilot during World War I.
World War II and beyond
Beckhardt was released in March 1940. Apparently, Hermann GöringHermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
had interceded on the grounds of sentiment towards his old comrade in arms. Beckhardt's lawyer, Berthold Guthman, had served with both Göring and Beckhardt during World War I. (Guthman, who was Jewish, died in KZ camp Auschwitz on 29 September 1944).
Fritz and Rosa Emma Beckhardt escaped to neutral Lisbon, Portugal, thence to England. After a brief internment on the Isle of Man, the Beckhardt family reunited and moved in with one of the Froweins. In London he reunited with his two children Kurt and Sue Hilde who had been brought to England by the "Kindertransport
Kindertransport
Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig...
"-Organizations (Refugee Children's Movement (RCM)). The RCM had its seat in London, Bloomsbury house. It consisted of many Jewish and Christian organisations.
In 1950, Fritz Beckhardt returned to Wiesbaden and recovered his house and shop and a part of his other property through legal action. He and his son Kurt then opened the first self-serve grocery in Wiesbaden. Fritz Beckhardt ran the grocery until his death on 13 January 1962. His death was caused by several strokes. He and his wife are buried at the cemetery of Wiesbaden - Sonnenberg.
His son Kurt lived in a camp in Barham, Claydon (Suffolk), in different hostels in Sheffield and in Golders Green, London until he returned with his father to Germany. He is now living in Bonn, Germany. His daughter Suse Hilde became a British subject in January 1954 and lived in London.