Karl Josef Oehler

Karl Josef Oehler (* 1889 in Nordrach ; † August 20, 1917 in Flanders ) was widely known as the “first aviator in the Black Forest ”.

Life

Even as a child he showed a remarkable interest in flying. As an enterprising journeyman carpenter, he tinkered with airplane models in his spare time and tried to penetrate the secrets of the art of flying through self-study. His parents advised him against his plan to become an aviator and kept advising him to stay on the ground.

But after long pleading and begging and enough money saved and borrowed, he learned to fly from one of the first flight instructors in the province of Brandenburg . As early as 1913 - he was just 24 years old - he had achieved his daring goal and acquired the pilot's license.

After a four-week apprenticeship, he was now an airplane pilot. With borrowed money he bought an airplane. In so-called show or aerobatics, he successfully promoted the idea of ​​aircraft and raised the funds to repay his debts. He also got the urgently needed money by selling photos.

Flight days were therefore held in Gengenbach , Zell aH , Haslach, Lahr , Freudenstadt , Achern , Wolfach and elsewhere. What the young Nordracher did not intend with his flying happened in 1914 when the First World War began and he was deployed as a soldier in the Luftwaffe against the enemy - initially in the east.

He suffered from having to destroy people and landscapes, and hardly enjoyed the highest awards he had won because they had been paid at such a high price. In his many letters to his parents, still preserved today, he gave descriptions of the battle and spoke several times of "horrific extermination".

On August 20, 1917, the deputy sergeant was killed in an air battle over Flanders. His body was brought home. The aviator hero, who was awarded the highest medal, found his final resting place in the village cemetery. For a long time, a flight propeller adorned the simple grave of the first aviator from the Black Forest, who died at the age of 28, and who wanted to implement many bold flight plans.

On the 50th anniversary of his death, the Nordrach community had a memorial plaque attached to his parents' house. In Nordrach, Karl-Josef-Oehler-Straße also commemorates him, in nearby Offenburg the Karl-Josef-Oehler-Weg.

literature

• Hans-Georg Kluckert: Nordrach: history, people and landscape of the valley community Nordrach, Nordrach 1989