[Christer Bergström]

What an odd post, if I may express an opinion. I will of course be most interested to hear anyone’s opinion on the book when it is published, but to hear this kind of criticism against a yet unwritten book is . . . unusual.



“Meeting Walter Schuck in Speyer I asked him about your book (a poster was hanging right behind him). Well, he didn't seem to know much about it, ‘...yes, I've met him (means you) a couple of times, but a book, no, I don't think so...’.





- Well, since I wasn’t there, I can’t argue against you. But I assume that you misunderstood him, or he misunderstood you. Fairly recently, Mr. Schuck gave me a written consent to write his authorized biography. I am in regular contact with him - via phone and via e-mail - and we are all the time talking about the book. So either you misunderstood him or he misunderstood you, or he just cracked a joke. Maybe he found you arrogant?



“At which moment, his two "business(?)companions" interferred”



- “Business companions”? Exactly what are you trying to say? Present was Mr. Ernst Scheufele, the chairman of the JG 5 Veteran’s Organization, Mrs. Scheufele, and my research assistant Mr. Horst Kube. See the photograph here: http://www.bergstrombooks.elknet.pl/messerschmitt-ace/photos.htm



“Christer (and of course everybody putting out texts about those times . . . all of you giving us those "memories" “



- Are my books identical with everyone else’s book? How can you lump together books like that?



“you are writing books about things that happened sixty and more years ago”



- If I understand you correctly there can be no biographies on e.g. Napoleon, for that was way more than sixty years ago, and those who lived to witness that are long since dead.



“this is not just the "memory" of, say, being with your unit in Minsk in the summer of 1943, flying missions every day. No, this is about "remembering" the exact flights each and every day, where and when and why.”



- Is it? Says who? Please try to be concrete. I like to hear opinions on my books, but if those opinions shall have any purpose, I need them to be concrete. Please give me some concrete examples of parts in one of my books where you feel that you have reason to question the veracity of what I am writing. I have never described any pilot’s exact flights each and every day, where and when and why, but maybe you were thinking of another author than me? If so, who did you have in mind? Which pilot biography claims to describe a pilot’s exact flights each and every day, where and when and why? I would welcome a concrete reply, and a discussion on concrete issues.



To return to the actual issue, I am working in close cooperation with Mr. Walter Schuck on a biography on his life. The book will of course be focused on his career as a fighter pilot. I am using whatever material I have access to, and it is my and my assistants’ aim to present a biography which is as detailed as possible. However, it is excluded that we will be able to present an exact description of Schuck’s exact flights each and every day, where and when and why. I don’t think anyone expects that.



I suggest that Sveahk deals with existing books instead of yet unwritten books.