Fritz Beckhardt

Vizefeldwebel Fritz Beckhardt (27 March 1889 – 13 January 1962) 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.

Early life Fritz Beckhardt was born in Wallertheim, Rheinhessen, Germany. His father was Abraham Beckhardt. 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.

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

When the armistice ended the fighting on 11 November 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 the 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.

Fritz and Rosa Emma Beckhardt escaped to neutral Lisbon, Portugal, thence to England. After a brief internment on the Isle of Man, the Beckhardts moved in with one of the Froweins. In London they reunited with their 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 Bloomsbury house, London. It consisted of many Jewish and Christian organisations. Beckhardt in his later years. This photo dates from the 1950s. In 1950, 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. 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 Jewish cemetery of Wiesbaden.

His son Kurt lived in a camp in Barham, near Ipswich, 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.

Beckhardt's son Kurt did not reveal the family's Jewish background to his own son Lorenz to spare him from the kind of persecution they experienced during the Nazi era, raising him as a Catholic instead. Lorenz 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. Meine deutsche Familie (English: The Jew with the Swastika. My German Family) about Fritz Beckhardt.

Decorations and awards Member of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords General Honour Decoration for Bravery (Grand Duchy of Hesse) Iron Cross (1914), 1st and 2nd class, Bravery Medal (Hesse) (Grand Duchy of Hesse) Military Merit Order, 3rd class (Bavaria) War Merit Cross (Baden) Black Wound Badge (1918) Field Honour Badge (Hamburg) Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 Warrior Medal in Iron Prussian Military Pilot Badge Honour Goblet for the Victor in a dogfight