Rudolf von Eschwege (1895 – 1917) was a fighter pilot in the First World War. He was also known as the “Eagle of the Aegean”. On the occasion of April 21, 1936, the “Day of the German Air Force”, a street in the “Fliegerviertel” was named after him.

Eschwege enlisted in the army after his school years. In 1915 he joined the air force and in August was transferred to the Western Front as an aircraft commander. In 1917, he made a name for himself as the “Eagle of the Aegean” through numerous aerial victories. On November 21, 1917, he attacked a British tethered balloon. The balloon’s ground crew simultaneously detonated an explosive charge in the balloon’s basket, killing Eschwege.

In 1935/36, the Nazis established an air base in the town of the same name, Eschwege in Hesse. However, the naming of the place has no known connection to Rudolf von Eschwege. However, the use of forced laborers at the Eschwege air base and the insufficient clarity of whether or not the Eschwegering refers to  the town or to the fighter pilot Eschwege, remains problematic.

Status of the Renaming

Actually, the Eschwegering should have been renamed like all streets of the “Fliegerviertel” after the Second World War, but this project has not been realized so far.

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