A ‘Star of David’ in German aircraft

[Louis]

German pilot Adolf Auer in his plane in 1917, although he wasn't Jewish he painted the star of David symbol on his plane after future Nazi party member Hermann Goring made anti semitic remarks about his co pilot.

Lt. Adolf Auer was the German fighter pilot and he did this defiant act because he disliked Hermann Göring’s anti-Semitism and anti-semitic comments. Auer’s wingman was a German Jew and also a highly decorated German WW1 fighter ace, his name was Willi Rosenstein.

Willi Rosenstein

During the WW1 Göring was a very successful fighter pilot, he shot down 22 enemy aircraft making him an Ace. Between the 17 May 1917 and 28 July 1918 the then Lt. Hermann Göring was the Commanding Officer of Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 27 (Jasta 27) hunting group, Willi Rosenstein was also part of Jasta 27 and at the time flew as Göring’s wing man.

In late 1917 an incident occurred in which Rosenstein became very upset after Lt. Goering made an anti-Semitic remark in front of several people; Rosenstein requested an apology but when Göring refused, Rosenstein asked for a transfer out of Jasta 27.

Willi Rosenstein then joined Jasta 40, and flew as the wing man to Adolf Auer. In defiance to anti-Semitism and to derogatory comments Hermann Göring had made as to Rosenstein whilst he was his wing-man, Auer painted a Star of David on the side of his fighter, this was done to annoy Göring and stand up for his fellow Jewish comrade, he famously said that he would rather be saved by a Jewish pilot than die in a plane crash.

Lt. Adolf Auer’s combat record in WW1 is however very short and was wounded in action when he was brought down on 28 Oct 1918 and taken Prisoner of War

When WW2 broke out, Adolf Auer joined the Luftwaffe, which by this time was headed up by Hermann Göring but Göring did not penalize Auer for painting a Star of David on his aircraft during World War 1

For his part after WW1, Willy Rosenstein became a glider pilot sportsman. Because of growing anti-Semitism and the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1930s, and despite being a war hero, he feared for his life and that of his family and fled to South Africa.

His son Ernest took to his father’s love of flying and became a fighter pilot for the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the WW2 and attained the rank Lieutenant, but Ernest was tragically killed in action over Italy on 2 April 1945 fighting for the Allies, ironically fighting against his father’s country of birth.

Willy Rosenstein was killed on 23 May 1949 in a midair collision with a student pilot over his farm in Rustenburg, South Africa.​

From:
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