Karen Franklin

Though every soldier?s story may be unique, the experiences of Airman Julian Spiegel, aircraft designer for the Rumpler Company, and German Jewish soldier during the First World War, were extraordinary. With a vast array of documents ? from an emergency American passport from 1914, to photographs and drawings of aircraft he designed, to correspondence he penned weekly from 1914 through 1916, through archival research in Germany and the US, Karen Spiegel Franklin pieced together her grandfather?s dramatic story. Julian Spiegel wrote about his extraordinary opportunity to become a pilot: ?I shall always envy my flying comrades?if I would again be offered to learn flying then I would have to say yes?? His ultimate decision would shape the future of his family, and his subsequent immigration to the United States.