After studying musicology, Petermann came to the Central House of Culture, where he was initially tasked with setting up a department for folk dance. This eventually developed through his dedicated collecting and research activities into the Tanzarchiv Leipzig. Thus, Petermann’s estate also reveals the history of the Tanzarchiv. His correspondence with the Central House for Folk Art, the Academy of Arts as well as dancers and dance institutions in Germany and abroad testifies to his important role in the political-cultural life of the GDR.
The Petermann collection also provides insights into a creative, restless personality who was always developing new projects: the dance bibliography, which is still unprecedented today, the plans for an encyclopaedia and a dance iconography, the publication of reprints of important writings in dance history in the series Documenta choreologica, as well as several film documentaries, documents of his teaching activities and many publications.