Dietrich Peltz - the missing (post-war) years

[Simon Trew]

I wonder if anybody can shed any additional light on what Dietrich Peltz, at one time Angriffsfuhrer England, did during the post-war years?

I'm intrigued that this officer doesn't ever appear to have been interrogated or properly interviewed about his wartime experiences. Or maybe he was, and somehow I've just missed it.

Beyond his war service, I know (or at least believe) that he disappeared on or soon after he landed at Prague-Rusin on 5 May 1945, apparently when the area was attacked by renegade Russian troops from Vlassov's forces. But after that, what happened to him?

From April 1946 into early 1947, US, British and French authorities made quite serious attempts to track him down, as had still not been found and was regarded as dangerous" (see various correspondence in UKNA FO 1038/166). Other German officers were interviewed, the Russians (who were at one time believed to have him in their hands) were contacted, and his wife's residence in Munich was monitored. One rumour had it that he was "hiding as a wood-chopper or forester" in Bavaria, but I have no idea if this was true.

Later - but I have no idea how much later - he emerged from hiding and according to various online sources (most obviously the Wikipedia entry) he worked for Krupp in Essen and then (from 1963) with Telefunken, ending his career as director of their factory in Konstanz. He died in August 2001 in Munich.

Richard Muller has kindly told me a little about his two meetings with Peltz, when the latter attended a 1990 symposium about the Battle of Britain at the National Air and Space Museum and a 1992 conference at the US Air Force Staff College. But although Peltz seems to have shed a little light on some matters, they did not - it seems - include his time as Angriffsfuhrer England.

Alfred Price also met Peltz (there is a photograph of the two men together on the inside rear cover of 'Blitz on Britain') and seems to have got a few words out of him - there is a reference to Peltz wanting to attack power stations instead of London and other urban centres on p.160 of 'Blitz on Britain' (though I have found no specific evidence to support this assertion in my research about Steinbock). But there is no evidence in Price's book that Peltz was interviewed at length about anything.

Does anybody know if Price's papers are preserved, and if so, who has them?

Likewise, does anybody know anything more about Peltz's missing post-war years? I get the impression he went into hiding, and by the time he emerged to take up a respectable job in industry, nobody could be bothered to sit down and interrogate (or even interview) him at length. But I could be very wrong, and would be delighted to be told so.

Likewise, I find no trace of a diary or draft memoir by Peltz. But again, am I wrong? Maybe something exists and I just don't know about it.

It has seemed odd to me that such a central figure in the history of Luftwaffe bomber forces has relatively little written about him, and that there is no record that I know of that illustrates a serious attempt to sit him down and quiz him about his experiences. Bits and pieces in records I have seen shed some light on his attitudes and beliefs. But it is all rather thin gruel.

Comments welcome - and I'm happy to send the contents of FO 1038/166 to anybody who wants to see the file. It is short and rather underwhelming, but it does contain a small amount of biographical information about several other Luftwaffe officers, so may be of some use to somebody.

Thanks

Simon