Tail End Charlie
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.
Neighbors
Text: 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 articles 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 being 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 gentlemen 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 monthly 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 looking 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 Association 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 recently I had been at a similar meeting of Czechoslovak 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 gentleman 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 dictated 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 battles 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. Petermann 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 definitely 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. Petermann participated in discussions with veterans that we organized. There he also met several times with the Czechoslovak members of the RAF whom he had greeted in December 1995.
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 woman added that during the war, she had worked in the Soviet eavesdropping service, which monitored radio transmissions of the German Air Force in the Kuban area in 1943. The specialists of this service were mostly women with a perfect knowledge of German and knew many of the German airmen operating over the virtually static 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 influence over the style with which the Museum of the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains passes on historical legacy.
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.
Meeting of WWII veterans with public people in Kovářská, September 1998. In row from left: 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), Herbert Chlond (ZG 1, JG 4). 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).
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 bottom of the display was donated by him to the museum around 1998.
Lt. Viktor Petermann with his wife and daughter. [Photo: Museum of Air Battle over the Ore Mountains Archive]
Handwritten notes detailing Viktor Petermann's wartime statistics.