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Der rote Kampfflieger

publication history, propaganda value, and different versions

by @tintenspion, December 2022

Der rote Kampfflieger (The Red Air Fighter), published in 1917 and translated in 1918 is regarded to be the autobiography of Manfred von Richthofen. It was, and still is, the best selling german book about the first world war. In this post I will talk about how it was written and published, adress some personally selected instances of propaganda found in the book and explain the changes other publications of the book have made (focusing on the versions of 1920 and 1933).

This post is incredibly simplified and I can recommend reading the sources that I have listed, as they cover the topic in a lot more depth (but they're almost all in german)

Der Rote Kampfflieger, 1917

The publication history

Manfred von Richthofen began writing his biography in May 1917. He had rejected requests writing a book multiple times before, because he did not feel that he had the talent nor the time to write. However, he was asked by the command of the aerial forces to write one and since that was essentially an order he accepted a request by the publisher Ullstein. (1)

Most historians agree that the book was essentially ghostwritten by Hauptmann Erich von Salzmann, who based it on acconts given in stenography by MvR. Salzmann was not credited for the book, however in the contract with Ullstein (the publisher) MvR gave Salzmann full authority over what parts of the stenography he adapts into the finished book, without having to get MvRs consent. (2)

Due to a lack of an original draft, is not reconstructable what parts of the book are actually written by him, which parts were ghostwritten and which parts were edited for propaganda purposes.

The intentions

Ullstein Kriegsbücher, the series Der rote Kampfflieger was published in was a series that focused on "firsthand accounts" of front soldiers, which explains why the book still uses an easy and "uneducated" language despite being mostly written by a ghostwriter. (3) This was done on purpose to make the reader identify more with MvR, since the divide between him and the average reader was already there due to him being an aristocrat. The books also focuses a lot on the fallibility of its main character, Manfred von Richthofen. He is portrayed as a little naive; someone who has no idea how war works and therefore makes a lot of mistakes. Examples include: Capturing french soldiers in a house and letting them escape on accident, giving wrong hand signs that almost get his division killed, failing his piloting exam and hitting his finger on a propeller. This is also done to make him more relatable to the average reader. (4)

The second part of the book focuses then on his life as a pilot and a squadron leader. The book goes out of its way to portray Richthofen as very humble. It is for example described how "in the flying corps we dont think about records. We only do our duty." [DRK p.154]. This is obviously an instance of propaganda, as records and victory numbers were contrary to this statement very important to the individual pilots. To portray MvR's "chivalry", they use a very interesting stylistic device. MvR calls himself a "Weidmann" (hunter) in comparison to his brother, whom he denounces as a "Schießer" (shooter). The word Weidmann, in contrast to Jäger, implies an unofficial hunters code on how to hunt in an honorable way. (5) In modern times, this comparison seems kind of grotesque, as MvR views his enemies as prey to be hunted. Downplaying the death enemy pilots and comparing the dogfights to a hunting situation is a reaccuring theme in iterature written by and about german ww1 pilots and is not exclusive to Manfred von Richthofen. (6)

The most infamous example of editation for propaganda regarding the "honorable fight" is probably the discription of MvR's 33rd victory: In the book it is described that MvR flew low over the downed plane to check if the pilots were dead, they are not and shoot back at him, however he decides to just fly away and not retaliate. (7) In his combat report for that victory however, he described that he did retaliate and killed one of the occupants. (It is notable that, according to Algernon Peter Warren, the pilot that survived, they actually didn't shoot back at Richthofens plane. Warren notes that there was ground fire coming from the trenches, and Richthofen probably mistook that for the downed plane firing at him). (8) Due to the fact that MvR seems to have been truthful in his combat report, it is to assume that the change in the book was most likely done by the censorship and not by Richthofen himself.

Richthofens view on his own book

MvR didn't really care about his autobiography. I believe this for multiple reasons: He says that he is not a good writer (9) and that he rejected writing an autobiography multiple times (as mentioned before). Also I believe if he really cared about how he was portrayed in his autobiography he wouldn’t have given Salzmann the rights to change things without him checking them first.

Ein Heldenleben, 1920

Published under the name "Ein Heldenleben", this was the version that had the worst sale numbers, however it is also the one that includes the most material. It was also edited by Salzmann. (10) It includes the original biography, shortened, and adds about 200 extra pages. Those extra pages include:

"Hinterlassene Papiere" (leftover papers): Excerpts from either letters to his family, his diary or rejected chapters of the autobiography (historically unclear)

A selection of letters to his mother

Excerpts from his brother Lothar

An account about Manfred as a child written by his mother

German, english and french articles about his last flight, death and funeral

Obituaries

Memories of Richthofen: Articles and anecdotes from other people who knew or met him

This book is regarded as the most detailed versions and is free from government censorship. Salzmann in this case only worked together with the Richthofen family, who probably decided what will go into the book and what won't. I need to point out however that some of the articles in "Memories of Richthofen" were already published in newspapers during the war, so those definetly had to pass a censorship comittee. I would still regard this version as the most trustworthy one out of the tree I am presenting.

Der Rote Kampfflieger, 1933

This version of the book is the one that had the most copies sold. It was edited by Hans Rudolf Berndorff. (11) Differences, aside from a couple of chapters having different titles and some chapters having been combined, include the removal of the first two chapters, and the inclusion of four extra chapters, with three of them having not been published beforehand. The book starts with a foreword by Hermann Göring an introduction written by MvR's brother Bolko. It also includes some chapters from his brother Lothar (the same as in the 1920 version, however a couple have been removed). The book also uses some of the letters that were published in Ein Heldenleben and add them to the autobiography (mostly) chronologically.

Especially notable is the often referenced chapter Gedanken im Unterstand (Thoughts in the shelter), where MvR talks about how his feelings towards the war have changed since his autobiography came out in may. The chapter was a letter to his mother, however it has been cut a lot, so we don't exactly know when and why it was written.

This book, in contrast to Ein Heldenleben, focuses more on the military aspects of MvR's life, as it is a part of Nazi propaganda.

Other publications of the book:

There was a version published in 1977, that included the full autobiography written by Friedrich Wilhelm Korff. In 1990 another version was published with a foreword written by Manfred Wörner, a former NATO secretary. I have not included an analysis of these two books, as they “only” evaluate the morals of the latter three. This is an entirely different topic, and a very complicated one, that deserves its own post.

The first english translation was published in 1918. I already made a post about a few translation mistakes, that you can see here.

Peter Kilduff also translated both the 1917 and the 1933 version.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the book is mostly interesting because you can see how the myth of Manfred von Richthofen was reshaped to fit different narratives and propaganda purposes over the course of 80 years. I wouldn't take it as a trustworthy source, especially regarding MvR's feelings towards the war, but I do believe it is a good guideline. Something to be weary of while reading biographies about Manfred von Richthofen or watching video essays about him is when people take the autobiography a little too much at face value and automatically assume that the propagada in it was edited by him personally and not by the editor.

Sources:

(1) CASTAN, Joachim: Der Rote Baron: Die ganze Geschichte des Manfred von Richthofen (2008) ISBN 9783608944617, p. 148f [AN: currently looking for a primary source; this book does exactly what I described in "conclusion"]

(2) SCHILLING, René: Der Körper des “Helden”. Deutschland 1813–1945 In: Bielefelder Graduiertenkolleg Sozialgeschichte: Körper Macht Geschichte – Geschichte Macht Körper. Körpergeschichte als Sozialgeschichte (1999) ISBN 9783895342806, p. 132

(3) SEIDEL, Nadine: Wie man Helden ediert. Ein Ausgabenvergleich von Manfred von Richthofens Der rote Kampfflieger. In: GLUNZ, Claudia; SCHNEIDER, Thomas F. : Dichtung und Wahrheit. Literarische Kriegsverarbeitung vom 17. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (2015) ISBN 9783847104872, p. 69f

(4) SEIDEL, Nadine: “Nicht 'Schießer' sondern 'Weidmann': Wie ein missverstandenes Ethikkonstrukt Manfred von Richthofen zum Helden werden ließ. In: SEYBERT, Gislinde: Heroisches Elend - Misères de l’héroïsme - Heroic Misery: Der Erste Weltkrieg im intellektuellen, literarischen und bildnerischen Gedächtnis der europäischen Kulturen - Teil 1 und 2 - La Première Guerre mondiale dans la mémoire intellectuelle, littéraire et artistique des cultures européennes- 1 ère 2 (2014) ISBN 9783631636626, p. 748-753

(5) ibid, p.744ff

(6) VOIGT, Immanuel: Stars des Krieges: Eine biografische und erinnerungskulturelle Studie zu den deutschen Luftstreitkräften des Ersten Weltkrieges (Zeitalter der Weltkriege, 20, Band 20) (2019) ISBN 9783110605020 p. 176-183

(7) RICHTHOFEN, Manfred von: Der rote Kampfflieger (1917) p. 126

(8) FRANKS, Norman; GIBLIN, Hal; McCRERY, Nigel: Under the Guns of the Red Baron: The Complete Record of Von Richthofens Victories and Victims Fully Illustrated (1998) ISBN 9781898697961, p.91f

(9) RICHTHOFEN, Manfred von: Ein Heldenleben (1920), p. 330

(10) SCHILLING, René: Der Körper des “Helden”. Deutschland 1813–1945 In: Bielefelder Graduiertenkolleg Sozialgeschichte: Körper Macht Geschichte – Geschichte Macht Körper. Körpergeschichte als Sozialgeschichte (1999) ISBN 9783895342806, p. 132

(11) SEIDEL, Nadine: Wie man Helden ediert. Ein Ausgabenvergleich von Manfred von Richthofens Der rote Kampfflieger. In: GLUNZ: Dichtung und Wahrheit. Literarische Kriegsverarbeitung vom 17. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (2015) ISBN 9783847104872, p. 72

#manfred von richthofen #ww1 aviation #richthofen #der rote kampfflieger #red baron #history #actual research #i cant believe ive done this #help 💀

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