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 . 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 . 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 26 , 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 . 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 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 Göring 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 .