WWI German Pilots who Joined Nazi Party

Originally Posted by Neil_E

PS: Point of Clarification: Given that the SS was an arm of the NSDAP, you were automatically a member whether you actively joined the party at some stage or not.

Hi Neil,

Please have a look at this:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtop...=886380#886380

Sorry Rittersbach, I hope were not taking your thread too far off topic.

regards,

Darren

[NeilE]

Originally Posted by wingedwarrior

Hi Neil,

Please have a look at this:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtop...=886380#886380

Sorry Rittersbach, I hope were not taking your thread too far off topic.

regards,

Darren

Interesting link Darren. I would have thought party membership was automatic given the SS's organic link to the Party but obviously not. You learn something new every day!

Cheers

Neil

You're not alone Neil. I seem to learn something new on this forum everyday!

regards,

Darren

[mikec]

Surprised nobody's mentioned Erhard Milch so far.

MILCH, ERHARD (1892-1972) General Field Marshal, Armaments Chief of the Luftwaffe, and Goering's senior deputy who was half-Jewish (Mischlinge). After serving in an air force fighter group in WWI, Milch joined the Freikorps in 1919, and in 1920 commanded a Police Air Squadron in East Prussia. In 1926 joined Lufthansa and became a member of its Board of Directors and for the next seven years played a major role in the company's development. Joined the NSDAP in 1933 and that same year was appointed by Goering as State Secretary of the Reich Air Ministry, a position he would hold until the end of the Third Reich. The fact that his mother was a Jewess did not prevent his rapid promotion, since Goering persuaded his mother to sign a legal document stating he was not her child. In July 1940 he was promoted to General Field Marshal and in 1942 became the virtual dictator of transportation in Nazi Germany, along with his close personal friend and political ally, Albert Speer. Sentenced in April 1947 to life imprisonment as a war criminal by a Nuremberg Military Tribunal. In 1951 the American High Commissioner commuted his sentence to fifteen years. He was released and amnestied in 1954 and worked as an industrial consultant in Düsseldorf. Died at Wuppertal-Barmen on January 25, 1972.

www.humanitas-international.org/

[crankcase]

Hello, I am a newcomer to the Forum and not well acquainted with the "way things work"... I saw this thread with the last submission in April so am unsure if anyone is still following it. However, on the subject of pilots and Nazi party members, I saw no mention of Wolfram von Richthofen, who was very senior in the luftwaffe. I assume he was a party member (but have not confirmed this).

I realise that the subsequent careers of pilots may go to the fringe of what this forum is about, but such questions do add some depth to understanding the motivations of the men who flew in 1914-18. I have also wondered what Manfred would have done had he lived to see the rise of the Nazis, but there is a limit to counterfactual speculation. It is sobering to recall that Göring is not the only prominent link between the two eras... Bodenschatz, MvR's adjutant also served Hitler directly...

I am already impressed by the depth and quality of the comments I have read in the Forum and, most of all, by the mutual respect displayed by members. This is a wonderful medium and one that I wish had existed over 30 years ago when I got my first book about Great war Aviation.

i am living in Romania and would be interested to know if there are any links, threads or resources dedicated to aerial ops on the "forgotten" front of the Carpathians.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by crankcase

i am living in Romania and would be interested to know if there are any links, threads or resources dedicated to aerial ops on the "forgotten" front of the Carpathians.

Welcome to the Aerodrome. You might try:

www.warchron.com

Rick

[agblume]

Hello Crankcase, Yes there are a few, very few, who have interest in the aviation during WWI in either the Carpathians or the Romanian Front. Rick was kind to mention my website. Thank you Rick. Cheers, agblume

[ww1 ace]

What about Wolfram von Richthofen?

[adrian roberts]

Friedrich Christiansen, Imperial German Navy Hansa-Brandenburg seaplane ace, joined the NSDAP and was a senior commander of the Occupation Force in Holland during WW2. He served time in prison for war crimes.

Adrian

[retread]

Rittersbach,
This is the perfect place to discuss this subject. World War II was the legacy of World War I. We may choose to treat them seperately but what we loose is the relevance history has on our lives and this time.