Louis Hagen Glider Pilot at Arnhem

Louis Hagen, whose real family name was Levy, was born in Potsdam, Germany, on the 30th May 1916, the second son of five children.

His mother and father, a banker, moved in high circles and this brought them into close contact with various members of the social elite, including friends of Prince Bernhard. The young Louis, known to most as Büdi (abbr. Brüderlein - little brother), practiced boxing in the family's own ring and was privately educated, later attending high school but had little to show for the experience for he was, as he freely admitted, a dunce. At school Hagen befriended Claus Fuhrmann and their relationship proved to be mutually beneficial; Claus helped Louis with his school work, whilst Louis acted as his minder. In 1934 the effects of Nazism were felt in the Hagen household when a joke which Louis had written on a postcard, concerning Hitler's brownshirts, the Sturm Abteilung, was discovered and as consequence he was sent to the Schloss Lichtenburg Concentration Camp at Torgau. Fortunately his friend Claus successfully appealed for his release to his father, a judge and party member, and Louis was freed six weeks after his imprisonment. Following this event the Hagen family began the process of leaving Germany.

Karl, the elder brother, departed that year, Louis himself left for England in 1936, the other children made their way out later, and in 1941 his mother and father made use of the Trans-Siberian railway and reached the USA via Japan. In Britain, Hagen was employed in various positions before deciding to enlist in the Army, and like so many other Jewish refugees he served in the Pioneer Corps. All soldiers of German and Austrian origin were obliged to serve under a pseudonym so as to ensure that they would not be mistreated in the event of their capture, and so it was that Louis Hagen became Lewis Haig  He was accepted into the Glider Pilot Regiment at the end of 1943, and joined No.22 Flight, of D Squadron, No.1 Wing, and Arnhem was to be his first battle.

(The Pegasus Archive)