Peter Feldmann

Peter Feldmann (\*12. December 1923; † - ) was a german soldier.

## Life

Peter was the last of five siblings (three brothers two sisters). He grew up in a Protestant family. His father was the pastor of the community and enjoyed a good reputation. So Peter spent his childhood in the bosom of the church. Early on, he helped the father prepare for the service. His father taught his children himself and Peter developed early a taste for music and Latin. At fifteen, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. He was very happy about it.

Peter had a good relationship with his siblings. However, the relationship of the family was very much concerned with decorum and reserve. The fear of God and the humble attitude of the father was transferred to the whole family. Peter's mother was very religious. She prayed several times a day and had a reserved relationship with her son, in positive terms. For them, all men were divine tools.

The father, who had fought in the First World War was not exactly thrilled by the developments in the Reich and the Nazi takeover. But he was proud that the three oldest sons went to the military. With the outbreak of war, Peter's father seized much more and with the obligation to join the Hitler Youth Peter's life changed. As a son of a pastor, the others often made fun of him and he was confronted with the teachings of National Socialism, which were almost contrary to the teachings of Jesus. The father tried to convey to the boy that faith is always the first priority. Only then comes the fatherland and he would be on a small scale.

Due to the great successes of the Wehrmacht, the father could not escape the euphoria that prevailed in the country. Was Hitler supposed to be the divinely gifted Messiah? At Christmas in 1940, which the family celebrated together, the sons had a leave of absence, the father gave a long sermon to the family. She should burn Peter. Now there would be one last mission, his father said. The conversion of the pagans in the east. The Antichrist Stalin and the godless Bolshevism would have to be swept away by the earth. Peter ran an icy shiver down his spine. For the first time in his life he was not sure of his father. But he kept his thoughts to himself.

When the operation Barbarossa began in the summer, his father personally rang the bells of the village church. The Führer, as he now called him, must be the Messiah he had been praying for since childhood. The crusade against godless Bolshevism had begun.

In January 1943, when it became known that the campaign faltered in the East, Peters Father knew what he had to do. When Peter heard the Sunday sermon of his father, in which he spoke of the great sacrifice that each Christian had to bring now in the fight against the godless, Peter knew that he spoke to him. After a sleepless night, he volunteered for the Wehrmacht. It was the first time that his father hugged and kissed him. He blessed the son. The mother watched. But at night she secretly cried into her pillow. The last son who left her. One day after Peter's departure, the Wehrmacht telegram arrived. Hans and Ferdinand, his brothers, were missing in Russia.

## References

* Verstaubt sind die Gesichter Episode 03 "Hoffnung", 04.03.2018, https://youtu.be/NCmkMAb-EIk
* Verstaubt sind die Gesichter Episode 04 "Alleine", 22.04.2018, https://youtu.be/6vELi12pT9E
* Verstaubt sind die Gesichter Episode 05 "Warten", 20.09.2018 https://youtu.be/WBv-ukzIV\_U
* Verstaubt sind die Gesichter Episode 06 "Alltag", 30.06.2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtTwodiaABo&t=563s