16 Facts About Fritz Beckhardt

Vizefeldwebel Fritz Beckhardt 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.

Fritz Beckhardt repatriated himself to Germany to serve in the infantry, until 1916.

Fritz Beckhardt then trained as a pilot at FEA 5 at Hannover in January, 1917.

Fritz Beckhardt attended Jastaschule 1 to upgrade to fighter pilot status.

Fritz Beckhardt then went on to Jagdstaffel 26, where he served from 17 February 1918 through to 20 May 1918; Hermann Goring served in Jasta 26.

Fritz Beckhardt and Goring were stationed at the same airfields for eight months and knew each other well.

Rather ironically, Vizfeldwebel Fritz 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 a Nazi symbol, and Fritz Beckhardt's swastika turned in the opposite direction to the Nazi one.

Fritz Beckhardt was one of only three German Jews awarded the House Order of Hohenzollern; the others were Edmund Nathanael and Wilhelm Frankl.

The names of Nathanael, Frankl and Fritz Beckhardt were removed from the list of recipients during the Nazi era.

Fritz Beckhardt was twice personally congratulated by the German Emperor Wilhelm II for his successes as a fighter pilot.

In 1926, Fritz Beckhardt married Rosa Emma Neumann in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Fritz Beckhardt then ran his father-in-law's grocery store until 1934.

Fritz and Rosa Emma Beckhardt escaped to neutral Lisbon, Portugal, thence to England.

In 1950, Fritz Beckhardt returned to Wiesbaden and recovered his house and shop and a part of his other property through legal action.

Fritz Beckhardt ran the grocery until his death on 13 January 1962.

Lorenz Fritz Beckhardt found out when he was 18 and researched the story of his grandfather, resulting in the publication of the book Der Jude mit dem Hakenkreuz.