" ... I certainly had my hands full as mediator and whatnot — the 'all cure' between the Americans and the Germans ... not only in the first days, but for a year and more I was kept busy, for all in the whole surrounding district came to me for advice and help, traveling as far as 50 to 200 kilometers. I was glad to help where I could, because those who came were not the Nazis, but those who suffered under their regime." — Father Viktor's personal account of wartime events, written to superiors in Rome.
In the war's aftermath, Father Viktor discovered his duties expanding beyond the pastoral realm. Aside from spiritually counseling Schwarzenfeld's citizens, helping them cope with psychological trauma lingering long after those dramatic 48 hours, he regularly served as an interpreter and intermediary between American officials and German civilians. Writing prolific correspondences on behalf of families requesting the safe return of loved ones held in American POW camps, he vouched for German citizens who resisted Nazism during the war years. Contacting charitable organizations in his homeland, he obtained CARE packages containing food, clothing, and a multitude of other necessities for Schwarzenfeld's struggling population. But among Father Viktor's efforts to affect a rebirth in the recovering town, his role in establishing Schwarzenfeld's St. Nikolaus Apothecary proved especially critical. Frau Rita Wittleben, daughter of pharmacy founder Herr Emil Weiß, explains:
"At this time [June 1945] in a small village 3 kilometers away [named Grafenricht] occurred several cases of typhoid fever on a farm. The farmers had two concentration camp prisoners hidden on their farm. These prisoners were able to escape from a prisoner transport during the bombing of the Schwarzenfeld train station, and hide on the mentioned farm. Unfortunately the prisoners were infected with typhoid fever, and they infected the farmers too.
Father Viktor was impatient, because the pharmacy was operational, but without authorization, was not allowed to open. The danger of an epidemic loomed ... Father Viktor took action and drove at once to Berlin, where a friend or acquaintance was High Commissioner. Father Viktor turned to him and described the precarious situation, that the population of Schwarzenfeld needed a pharmacy urgently to distribute the necessary medicine and prevent an imminent epidemic. The military government reacted promptly, and on December 6, 1945, we received temporary permission to open the pharmacy."
Shortly after Schwarzenfeld's local leadership regained political control in 1947, the town bestowed honorary citizenship upon Father Viktor. This gesture of gratitude usually reserved for German nationals celebrates Father Viktor's efforts to save Schwarzenfeld spiritually and physically throughout the war years and beyond.
Long after his death on December 15, 1955, Schwarzenfelders continue to honor their American Ehrenbürger (honor citizen), organizing ceremonies and commemorative events every ten years. Established in the mid-1980's, Viktor-Koch-Straße, a thoroughfare weaving through the Bavarian town's thriving heart, carries motorists past Schwarzenfeld's historic cemetery and present-day Town Hall. In April 1995, Miesbergkirche parishioners mounted a marble plaque on the monastery walls near the cemetery entrance (shown left with English translation, courtesy of Ed Pancoast). Most recently in May 2005, Father Viktor's American relatives traveled to Schwarzenfeld, where they interviewed eyewitnesses and participated in events celebrating the 60th anniversary of the town's salvation (see our Germany 2005 Gallery). Despite time's passage, Father Viktor's story continues to inspire successive generations of Germans, Americans and Passionists, which attests to the legacy he leaves behind:
"As a priest and Religious, Father Viktor did not think in terms of friend or enemy," Father Gregor Lenzen explains, reflecting upon his predecessor's holy courage. "As a German-American, and as a member of an international religious community, in which all treat each other as brothers, he was not marked by any feelings of nationalism. For him it was people who mattered, and their salvation, which for him originates in the Cross of Christ. He had come to implant this Cross and in doing so, had become a messenger of peace."