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NEIGHBORS
Jan Zdiarský
Some time ago, my colleague Jan Bobek came to
me saying that he wanted to prepare an article
about Viktor Petermann, whose Bf 109 G-4 was
to appear on the cover of a November kit release
and which is covered by one of the historical arti-
cles in this issue of our newsletter. It brought me
back to the beginning of December 1995, when
I, together with my staff from the Air Battle over
the Ore Mountains Museum, which was just be-
ing created at the time, received an invitation to
a meeting of veterans at the airport in Zwickau.
The meeting was of the Alten Adler, or the Old
Eagles, as they called themselves. These were
German aviation veterans, the association of
‘Gemeinschaft Der Jagdflieger E V’, ‘Jägerkreis
Sachsen’, and they met there regularly at their
‘Fliegerstammtisch’. The community of old gen-
tlemen and their wives was made up of former
members of the Luftwaffe fighter force, a large
part of them members of JG 52 from the Eastern
Front. In the same week, I had a regular month-
ly meeting with our Czechoslovak RAF veterans,
who, on the other hand, were members of the
Czechoslovak Association of Foreign Service
Airmen 1939-45. When we, then timid lads, were
welcomed in Zwickau, it was up to me to thank
the group on behalf of the somewhat bewildered
Czechs and say something about us. I was look-
ing at the old gentlemen, for the first time I had
the opportunity to meet those who were on the
‘other side’ in such a big way only a few decades
before. I remembered the meeting of the Associ-
ation of Czechoslovak Veterans just a few days
prior and I told our new German friends about it.
Or, more accurately, the sentiment was relayed
by my friend and museum colleague Petr Frank,
who translated my words. I said that very recent-
ly I had been at a similar meeting of Czechoslo-
vak airmen, and from what I could observe of the
gentlemen from the meeting in Prague and now
at Zwickau, it was very difficult to tell that these
two groups had been such enemies at one point
in time.
Somewhere down the middle of the long table at
the head of which we stood, a smiling tall gen-
tleman in a short-sleeved shirt that revealed
a missing left arm stood up and told me with
a smile to convey a sincere greeting to our
Czechoslovak veterans and tell them that we
were not mutual enemies, but enemies as dictat-
ed by political doctrines of the state.
That’s how Viktor Petermann came into our
lives. Of course, this was a somewhat diplomatic
expression, given the ferocity of the air war bat-
tles of 1939-45. But at the same time, it describes
the personality of Mr. Petermann and it certainly
influenced my view of history and of the many
veterans of the German fighter air force that we
began to meet. Later we got to know Mr. Peter-
mann much better and met him and his lovely
wife Elfriede many more times. We were amazed
during that first meeting, when he later sat down
with us at the table in the corner of the room and
we listened to his story, learned that he had 64
confirmed kills, flew both the Bf 109 and the
Me 262, and was a holder of the Knight’s Cross.
The fact that we were basically neighbors defi-
nitely helped us grow closer to each other. His
native Vejprty is a neighboring town, only six
kilometers away from our Kovářská, basically
over the next hill, you might say. Although the
events caused by the Second World War did not
allow him to live in his hometown, he did not hold
a grudge against them or us and took us as
friends from the neighborhood.
After the opening of our museum in 1997, Mr. Pe-
termann participated in discussions with veter-
ans that we organized. There he also met several
times with the Czechoslovak members of the RAF
whom he had greeted in December 1995.
An early meeting with Viktor Petermann at the Zwickau airfield. From left to right:
Karel Hušek, Jan Zdiarský, Lorenz Zentgraf, Viktor Petermann, and Petr Frank.
Fliegerstammtisch Zwickau, Jägerkreis Sachsen, December 11, 1997.
On photo: Viktor Petermann (JG 52, JG 7), Heinz Zimmer (JG 26, JG 4), Petr Frank, and Jan Zdiarský.
At Jan Bobek’s request, I will remind you here of
one of the stories that Viktor Petermann told us
and which is loosely related to the topic of the
aforementioned article. In the post-war years,
he worked as a citizen of East Germany in the
trade of agricultural commodities, especially
grain, and as part of his employment, he traveled
to the Soviet Union for business meetings. Once,
after a meeting, a Soviet interpreter came to him
and said to him ‘
I know you, Mr. Petermann...
’.
This caught him off guard, after which the wom-
an added that during the war, she had worked in
the Soviet eavesdropping service, which mon-
itored radio transmissions of the German Air
Force in the Kuban area in 1943. The specialists
of this service were mostly women with a per-
fect knowledge of German and knew many of the
German airmen operating over the virtually stat-
ic front line for several months, not only by their
radio codes, but often by their names and some
even by voice.
Mr. Petermann was a big-hearted insightful man
until the end of his days, and certainly one of the
prominent personalities who wielded much in-
fluence over the style with which the Museum of
the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains passes on
historical legacy.
Viktor Petermann is also honored in the exhibition at the Museum of the Air
Battle over the Ore Mountains, specifically in the section dedicated to general
Luftwaffe equipment. The shooting and identification training tool, at the bot-
tom of the display, was donated by him to the museum around 1998.
A discussion of WWII veterans and public visitors in Kovářská, September 1998. From left to right: Hans Bachmann (JG 52), standing Viktor Petermann
(JG 52, JG 7), Col. Lubomír Úlehla (No. 311 Squadron RAF & FAFL), Col. Petr Uruba (No. 311 Squadron RAF), Ewald Herhold (Jasta Helgoland JG 1),
and Herbert Chlond (ZG 1, JG 4).
Handwritten notes detailing Viktor Petermann’s wartime statistics.
Lt. Viktor Petermann with his wife and daughter.
[Photo: Museum of Air Battle over the Ore Mountains Archive]
INFO Eduard
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November 2024