Felix "Medal Man" Luckner

[Chris Boonzaier]

A less than honorable man it seems.... but an impressive rack of medals and a signature none the less.....

[Odulf]

He was a celebrity in many ways and must have had a lot of fans because most photos/postcards of the man have his signature.

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello.

I was one of his many, many fans until just a number of years ago. Then finally I came across an article describing how during the 1933 - 1945 his dark side of character was kept hidden. A man with more than mere blemishhes...

Bernhard H. Holst

[dksck]

Luckner's high profile, public recognition and reputation are due, at least in part, to an American. Essentially, Luckner and T.E Lawrence had the same unofficial publicity agent--Lowell Thomas. Thomas took one of the earliest known pictures of Lawrence and in the years that followed Thomas made him into the widely recognized romantic figure that he is today. That romanticization ultimately resulted in the production of the now famous movie in 1962. Thomas presented Luckner in a very similar romanticized manner. In the case of Luckner, however, there was that little problem of another round of problems with Germany which sort of prevented the trajectory of Luckner's fame from following that of Lawrence's. Thomas also knew Lawrence personally and had been with him in the desert. I do not know if Thomas ever met Luckner or how he came to know of his exploits. Nevertheless, it could be argued that the image of Luckner that Thomas created was so alluring and captivated the public imagination in many, even unconscious ways, that it remains with us in other forms. For example, Thomas titled his book Count Luckner: The Sea Devil and that phrase has been used in several contexts since then.