Jean Israël

Jean Israël (1913 – 1995) was a heroic French Air Force pilot during the Second World War, and a key subject in the non-fiction literary work ''Flight to Arras'' (''Pilote de guerre'') written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

In 1940 during the Battle of France, Israël, a French Jew, was called up to service in the same reconnaissance wing in which Antoine de Saint-Exupéry would serve. Israël was shot down and presumed killed during a fierce aerial engagement, but in fact parachuted to safety and was quickly captured by the Germans. He was sent to a German prisoner-of-war camp in Lübeck, where he remained for the duration of the war until the camp's inmates were freed by the Allies. Provided by Wikipedia