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.
Read more about this topic: Fritz Beckhardt
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“In the early forties and fifties almost everybody “had about enough to live on,” and young ladies dressed well on a hundred dollars a year. The daughters of the richest man in Boston were dressed with scrupulous plainness, and the wife and mother owned one brocade, which did service for several years. Display was considered vulgar. Now, alas! only Queen Victoria dares to go shabby.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“The aim of art is almost divine: to bring to life again if it is writing history, to create if it is writing poetry.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)