A 1939 Formal Film Premiere Invitation To “Pour Le Merite” Featuring Lieutenant Josef Jacobs

Also includes 3 photos of Lt. Josef Jacobs, one featuring then-Captain Hermann Göring; Date of item: 1939. Condition: very good, signs of aging, folding crease, slight rip. Invitation: 4 pp., 23.3 x 30.8 cm. Photos: 11.2 x 17.8 / 17.8 x 23.9 / 30.4 x 23.9

An invitation to the movie premiere of Ufa movie “Pour le Merite”, Jan 13th, 1939 in Erfurt. Ufa (Universum Film AG) is a German film company that was established in late 1917 and exists to this day. During the 1930s and WWII it was used as an instrument of Nazi propaganda. Page 1 shows a drawing of the order, carrying the cross with the words inside, as well as the four eagles filling the spaces in between the bars, and the crown symbol with the letter F underneath (for the donor King Frederick II of Prussia, who established it in 1740). Page 2 gives a detailed summary of the movie plot. The movie carries the subtitle “The heroic song of German aviation”. It tells the story of a young lieutenant who has already been awarded the Pour le Merite for his services as a fighter pilot in WWI. The year is 1918, and Lt. Fabian is recalled to the front. After a series of heroic acts by him and his fellow pilots, the war is over. In keeping with the propaganda of the Nazi regime, the social democrats are blamed for signing a peace treaty prematurely and then ruining the German nation. It is a difficult time for the pilots that struggle to find their way into a peace time business. The movie’s happy ending is the resurrection of their wing as part of the 1933 creation of the Luftwaffe. Page 3 lists the makers of the movie as well as the actors. It gives dates and times, and announces the speaker: Pour le Merite pilot Jacobs. Page 4 is empty.

Lieutenant Josef Jacobs (1894–1978) was one of the most successful flying aces of WWI. He achieved 48 victories, and as such was tied in 4th place among all German aces. Jacobs liked everything that was fast: he was also a participant in bob sleighing, car racing (he won the first AVUS race, the forerunner of the Formula 1), and speedboat racing. In the 1930s he owned an aircraft repair and manufacturing company. Even though Jacobs became a major in the reserve of the Luftwaffe, he refused to join the Nazi party and didn’t participate in WWII. Instead he moved to the Netherlands and briefly went into hiding during the war. Afterwards he returned to Germany, owned a construction crane operation, became president of the German Bobsleigh Society, and aided aviation historians of WWI. When he died in 1978, he was the last living aviation recipient of the Pour le Merite. He received a full military funeral.

On the first picture Jacobs is shown in uniform, wearing an Iron Cross, below it a Prussian pilot’s badge, and above it the Knight’s Cross of the House Order of Hohenzollern. His Pour le Merite is a cut-out that has been fabricated into the picture, so apparently he must not have been rewarded the Pour le Merite at the time the picture was taken. On the bottom it reads “Our successful fighter pilot Lieutenant Jacobs”.

The second picture shows “Jacobs in his Fokker triplane. The third picture is dated to Oct 1918 in Adlershof, Berlin, and shows Jacobs (third from the left) as part of a group of other highly successful flying aces. They came together for a test of a new plane type that is not specified. The second pilot from the right is then-Captain and later Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring. All in all, it is stated that these “comrades of Richthofen” (the “Red Baron” flying ace) have “380 confirmed aerial victories” between them. All pilots in the picture were awarded the Pour le Merite (Lt. Bäumer was the only one who hadn’t been awarded his yet at the time when this picture was taken). From left to right: Lieutenant Walter Blume, 28 victories. Lieutenant Josef Veltjens, 35 victories. Lieutenant Josef Jacobs, 48 victories. Captain Baron Oskar von Boenigk, 26 victories. Captain Eduard Ritter von Schleich, 35 victories. Senior Lieutenant Ernst Udet, 62 victories (second only to the Red Baron Richthofen). Captain Bruno Loerzer, 44 victories. Lieutenant Paul Wilhelm Bäumer, 43 victories. Captain Hermann Göring, 22 victories. Lieutenant Heinrich Bongartz, 33 victories ( = 378 victories, so the number stated on the picture is slightly too generous).