Wolfram Freiherr Von Richthofen - Early Life

Early Life

Richthofen was born on 10 October 1895, at the von Richthofen Barzdorf estate (Gut Barzdorf), near Striegau, Lower Silesia to an aristocratic family. His father, Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen (1856–1922), and mother, Therese Gotz von Olenhusen (1862–1948) were of Silesian nobility, and the family had been nobles for 350 years prior to Wolfram's existence.

Von Richthofen was second child and oldest son of four children. His older sister, Sophie-Therese was born in 1891 (and died in 1971). His brother Manfred was born in 1898 and Gerhard in 1902. He was the fourth cousin of the German World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, popularly known as the "Red Baron," and the baron's younger brother Lothar von Richthofen. As the son of a noble, he enjoyed a life of privilege. The family’s noble status dated back to the 1500s, and by the 1700s the Richthofens owned 16 estates in Lower Silesia. When Frederick the Great annexed Silesia in 1740, he personally granted the title of Baron (Freiherr) to one of Richthofen’s ancestors. The family continued on in Silesia for a further three generations.

Richthofen’s home, an eighteenth century estate, was only one of 25 Richthofen-owned properties totalling 140 square kilometres (35,000 acres; 54 sq mi). Barzdorf, where he lived, was a modest 350 hectares (860 acres; 1.4 sq mi), of which 269 was cropland and the rest forest. Interestingly Wolfram, as the oldest son did not inherit the estate. Instead, on the death of his father in 1922, it was given to his younger brother, Manfred. Some years before, Wolfram’s uncle General of Cavalry Manfred von Richthofen, his father’s brother, had asked him to inherit his estate to keep it in the family, as he himself had no children. Wolfram inherited the estate after Manfred legally adopted him. The General did not die until 1939, having lived long enough to see his nephew win success in the Spanish Civil War and in the Polish Campaign.

He had a distant relationship with his youngest brother, but a close one with Manfred. Unlike most Prussian nobles Richthofen went to the local Gymnasium (academic high school) and did not have private tutors at home. He attended school in Striegau. His grades at Mathematics and German language were good, but he did not excel at foreign languages (in which he scored average to poor results). He found studying language to be boring, but did learn Italian and could converse competently in it in later life.

He became good friends with his cousins, Lothar and Manfred von Richthofen, and he hunted game at the estate with them regularly. By the end of his teens he had become an established hunter and horse rider - interests which remained with him for the rest of his life. He enjoyed being outdoors and, while still at school, opted to apply for a commission in the German Army (rather than choose an academic career).

In 1913, at the age of 18, he joined the army and took the officer course in Berlin. The Cavalry was the most prestigious arm, and he applied to join the 4th Hussars which belonged to the 12th Cavalry Brigade of the Sixth Army Corps in Breslau. He did not have much time to experience peacetime military service. In August 1914 the First World War began.

On 18 September 1920, he married Jutta von Selchow ( March 1896 – 1991) at a Lutheran church Breslau (now the city of Wrocław in Poland). They had been introduced by her brother Gunther. Jutta was also of Silesian nobility, and had moved in the same circles. She had served as a nurse in the war. They lived in an apartment in Hanover while Wolfram restarted his academic career in Engineering. During their marriage they rarely travelled abroad in the 1920s. In the 1930s they took skiing holidays in Switzerland. The couple had three children; Wolfram (born 25 May 1922), Götz (27 November 1925) and Ellen (15 February 1928)