Anti-Semitism in German geography 1900-1945

Author(s): Klaus Kost

Source: GeoJournal, Vol. 46, No. 4, Geopolitics: its different faces, its renewed popularity
(1998), pp. 285-291
Published by: Springer
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^*
GeoJournal 46: 285-291,
1998.
285
'p
1998 Kluwer Academie Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Anti-Semitism in German
geography
1900-1945
Klaus Kost
Ostpreuenstr. 108,
45259
Essen, Germany
Received and
accepted
23
February
1999
Key
words:
anti-semitism, geopolitics, history
of
geographical discipline,
Jews
Abstract
The number of Anti-Semitic
opinions
found in
geographical
and
geopolitical
literature
gives
evidence of a
wide-spread
hostility
towards Jews before 1945.
Only very
few critical dissidents branded Anti-Semitism as
propaganda
of
political
rightists.
The extent to which Anti-Semitism served as an
ideological bridge
between
geography
and
geopolitics
in
Germany
till 1945 must be established. But
independent
from
geopolitics,
there are lots of
proof
for an
autochthonously developed
Anti-Semitism
among
German
university geographers long
before
geopolitics
was created. All in all
geopolitics
had no
innovative effect on the research and the
theory
of
political geography
in
Germany
till 1945. Its main
topics, epistemological
premises
and
methodological apparatus grew
on the substratum of authochthonous traditions created in the 19th
century.
Geopolitics only
takes
up
basic reflections that
already
exist.
Introduction
The
history
of
geographic
science is one of the most ne-
glected
themes in the
discipline. Unfortunately,
no con-
tinuous and
systematic
record of the
history
of German
geography
has been carried out
by Geographical
Institutes
neither in
Germany
nor in
any
other
country.
If this sub-
ject
is
neglected by universities, misinterpretations
will be
the
consequence,
be
they
ever so well-meant.
Only
re-
cently,
students of different German Institutes of
Geography
tried to
compile
and to
analyse
the research contributions
of German
geographers up
to 1945. This
study
resulted in
considerable over-reaction and false assessments which is
only natural,
when
university
research does not take care of
this inconvenient
subject
or even thrusts it aside.
This
explanation
does not claim
completeness
nor final
judgement.
Anti-Semitism could not
only
be ascertained
among geographers,
but also
among
scientists from other
disciplines
which also had their share in the racial delusion
and mass murder of National Socialist
Germany.
These oc-
currences had their roots in the
developments
of the decades
or even centuries
preceding
the
year
1933. But before we
point
our
fingers
at
others,
we should look at ourselves first.
There is evidence that under the cloak of science a lot of
Anti-Semitic research was done without
evoking any protest
worth
mentioning among
the scientific
community
of that
time. Now that access is
granted
for the first time to
many
archives and
estates,
we learn that some
geographers
de-
liberately
and with full awareness denunciated their Jewish
colleagues
for their own
advantage
before and after the
year
1933. This was also shown
by
Mr Gerhard Sandner
during
his
speech
at the
Philippson
memorial
colloquium
in Bonn
in 1989. Research in this field should
by
all means be con-
tinued and intensified.
Only recently,
Mr Hans Bhm and
Figure
1. Students view of historical consciousness in German
geography
(Arbeitskreis 'Geographie
und Faschismus' der
Bundesfachschaftentagung
Geographie, 1997).
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286
Ms Astrid Mehmel
published
the
autobiography
of Alfred
Philippson
'How I became a
geographer',
a book which was
written in the concentration
camp
Theresienstadt between
1942 and 1945. It is a
moving
document of German
geo-
graphic history.
I advise
you
to read it and to form
your
own
opinion.
I am
going
to cite from scientific
publications dating
from the
period
between 1900 and
1945, laying
the
stress,
however,
on
publications
before
1933,
because these could
not have been affected
by
eventual
repression
of the National
Socialist state.
Publications which
appeared
under National Socialist
regime
have an
important validity,
too. After 1933
opinions,
positions
and theories which often
originated
from the times
before
1933,
were
aggravated
and
brought
to a head.
Jewish
population
in the
judgment
of
geographers
and
geopoliticians
Between 1900 and 1945 it is not
appropriate
to differentiate
between
geographers
and
geopoliticians
in
Germany. Nearly
all the
big
names
among
the
geographers
also
got
involved
in
geopolitics.
The term
geopolitics, however,
has not
yet
been
precisely defined,
a
shortcoming
in all
geopolitical
de-
bates
up
to now. Therefore it is
necessary
to focus on how
the Jewish
population
was
presented
in
German-language
geographical publications.
For
political
and
geographical
reasons, only
a few
examples
will be used.
How do we define Anti-Semitism? Numerous
publica-
tions deal with the
complexity
of
hostility
to Jews. This
essay
is based on a definition
given by Nipperdey
and
Riirup
(1972)
without
going
into more detail now.
Ratzel, Haushofer,
and the Jews
In his Political
Geography,
Friedrich
Ratzel,
one of the
founders of
anthropo-geography
in
Germany,
attached
only
marginal importance
to Jews.
Nevertheless,
latent Anti-
Semitic
positions
can be noticed in his
writings.
He
mainly
deals with Jews in his
ethnology,
with the
story
of their
global power flowing
in. The reference to Jews serves Ratzel
to
explain
his
political-geographical
rules.
Though geo-
deterministically garnished, they
are an
example
of scientific
texts
harbouring
the
danger
of
encouraging prejudices.
Un-
der the
heading 'powers
without nation and nation without
people',
Ratzel
claims,
that
'insisting
on not to be
organi-
cally
tied to
any country'
was
typical
of Jews.
They 'prove
again
and
again,
how natural and
necessary
the connection
between nation and soil
is, being
of a transient and
stag-
gering
nature themselves.' The Jewish
population,
a
'power
without a
country'
and without
'organic roots',
is
presented
as an
unsteady,
unreliable and transient element. Further-
more,
Jews serve to illustrate the 'basic facts of historical
movements',
a
special
case of
'colonisation',
the
forming
'connection between a faith and a
people'
as well as the
historic dimension of a
past
Palestine. Here the Jewish
peo-
ple,
'too small to become
politically uprooted, grew up'
in
political
weakness to
spiritual independence (Ratzel, 1897).
Though
Ratzel does not
preach open Anti-Semitism,
he
uses
categories
like
'uprooting', 'powers
without countries'
and
'unorganic
unsteadiness' which are suited to
strengthen
prejudices against
national and
religious
minorities. How-
ever,
he
repeatedly points out,
that the term 'race' is unsuit-
able and warns
against
'slander of
people'
and
'unbelievably
powerful prejudices against
a whole
people'.
Karl Haushofer
believes,
that he himself is entitled to
the inheritance of Ratzel. In his
biography
of
Haushofer,
Jacobsen
substantiates,
that Karl Haushofer 'had
nothing
to do with the criminal and
organised persecution
of Jews
nor with the 'Final Solution". On the
contrary,
Haushofer
and his
family
fell into the
trap
of the NS racial fanaticism
themselves,
and
managed
to
get
out
only
with the
help
of
Rudolf
He,
Haushofer's
political
foster-father. Haushofer is
the
typical representative
of the conservative
Anti-Semitism,
who abhors the National Socialist radicalism. Haushofer is
of the
opinion
that the share of
Jews, especially
in
leading
positions
of state and
society
is too
high
and therefore has
to be reduced. His anti-Jew attitude is
primarily
revealed
in his relation to Eastern
Jews,
whose further
immigration
to
Germany
he wants to
prevent by taking rigid
measures.
The number of those
already
in
Germany
shall be reduced
by expulsion. Up
to 1933 he entertains
partially sympathetic
feelings
for the Anti-Semitic movement in
Germany,
at least
as far as East
European
Jews are concerned. He
expresses
this attitude
again
in
1934,
while
contributing
to a memo-
randum Albrecht
Haushofer,
his
son,
who was then
working
for the
Foreign Office,
was
writing.
His
explanations
are
headed
'Thoughts
on a differentiated solution of the non-
Aryan question'.
Both Haushofers here demand the 'final
sift-out ... of the whole East Judaism.'
For his
geopolitical
scientific
work,
the Jewish
question
was of minor
importance.
Nevertheless,
he demands to
pay
more attention to the 'narrowed
living space' Germany, i.e.,
'the
geographic
and
geopolitical
work with the mutilated
native soil'.
Otherwise,
there would be imminent Jewish
infiltration. He is afraid of
Germany becoming
an East Jew
filter between Romanic and Slovak countries.
Altogether,
it can be
noticed,
that
only
a few remarks
about Jews and Judaism can be found in the flood of
Haushofer's
geopolitical publications
which for the
biggest
part
concentrate on race
thoughts
in connection with East
Asia. The
problem
of Haushofer's Anti-Semitism shows
that the careless
equation
of Haushofer and
geopolitics
with
National Socialism does no
justice
whatever to the
complex-
ity
of the case.
Undisputedly,
Karl Haushofer disseminated
prejudices
and intolerance
against
minorities, among
them
also Jews.
Thereby,
he shows an attitude which was then
widely spread among
German middle-class
people.
He can-
not be called an activist or standard-bearer of National
Socialism for this attitude alone.
Furthermore,
some of the
members of his
family
were of Jewish
origin
themselves,
so
that some kind of
political
self-restriction on his side was
advisable for selfish reasons.
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Figure
2. 'Die
Befreiung
von der
Judenfrage',
Tiessen
(1922).
Anti-Semitism in
geography
and
geopolitics
The economic
geographer
Ernst Tiessen holds an
emphatic
German-national
position,
and his
suggestions
are consider-
ably
more radical.
In a
pamphlet published
in 1922 Tiessen who also deals
with themes of
political geography, promises
the 'Liberation
from the Jewish
question'.
His radical Anti-Semitism can be
called
adapted,
as he
rejects
'raw
Anti-Semitism',
but wants
to
put
an end to the
'overgrowing
Judaism'.
'Jews', says
Tiessen,
'first and foremost have to be seen from a racial
point
of
view,
not from a
religious
one'. 'A
baptised
Jew
changes only
some of the
features, by
which he can be
recog-
nised as a Jew'. Tiessen lists
'physical
features'
starting
with
'the nose' and
ending
with 'an inclination to flatfee as well
as the more
important
'mental features of Jews' like
'greed
for
money, property
and
power,
... a dislike for
physical
work
..., cunning',
etc. Tiessen is a
typical representative
of the rival
Anti-Semitism,
which was
wide-spread among
scientists. It served to isolate
colleagues competing
for so-
cial ascent within the 'scientific
community'. Especially
the
academic Jewish
intelligentsia,
who dominated
'journalism'
and other
disciplines
and did its foul work
among
the 'Social
Democrats' is a thorn in Tiessen 's side.
Tiessen further isolates the Jewish
population by
a skill-
ful discussion of the terms 'national' and
'patriotic'.
These
terms were also discussed at
great length
as
leading par-
adigms
in
geographic
circles in the 1920s and 1930s. He
contrasts 'the
legal
term nation of a state with nation of a
287
people',
the latter
meaning
a
'people constituting
the
biggest
and most decisive
part
of a
country's population. They
are
linked
by nativity
and derivation. . . . Jews do not
belong
to
this
group,
as
they
cannot claim
nativity.
After
all, they
are
'the most international of all
people
. . . '. For that
reason,
the
'international character of Judaism' is a
greater
threat to the
German 'Reich' than to
any
other
country.'
In this
argumentation,
the valuation and definition of
'nation',
'native
country',
and
'nativity'
take the central
po-
sition. These
categories
also dominated
political geography
before 1945. In the
ambiguous
use of these terms an im-
portant
connection between
ideology
and science comes to
light.
Tiessen 's
proposals
for a solution are characterised
by
illiberality
and
contempt
for human
beings.
Individual or
human
rights
have no
meaning
for him as 'Jews' are a dan-
ger
for the 'German
people's
nation'. Tiessen makes the
following
four
suggestions:
(1)
Prohibition of
immigration
. . .
(2) 'Expulsion
of all
Jews,
who
immigrated
into the Ger-
man Reich after 1918'.
'Eastern Jews' are concerned in the first
place.
Ruth-
less action shall be taken
against them,
'for
they
are alien
elements in the German
people
. . . '.
(3)
The
rights
of those
Jews,
whose native
country
accord-
ing
to birth and
parental
residence is not the German
Reich,
shall be restricted.
(4)
Those
Jews,
whose native
country according
to birth
and
parental (and grand-parental)
residence is the Ger-
man
Reich,
shall be
given
full
equality
of
rights
on two
conditions. The first condition is
parity,
i.e. their choice
of
profession
is limited and
jobs
'rationed'. The second
is
creed,
for
example
Jews have to be
professing
Chris-
tians,
not
by converting
but
by being
born Christians.
Only
this
way patriotic
sentiments can be ensured.
The
missing
hint at
geopolitical
literature and the de-
mand for
nativity
and
patriotic
sentiments instead are an in-
dication for the
independent development
of Anti-Semitism
among
German
university geographers,
who suffered from
rival fears and social descent. This was the hotbed for the
reception
of
ideologies feigning protection
and
stability
no
matter whether in the form of
geopolitics
or race
ideology.
Siegfried Passarge
is another
especially frightful
exam-
ple
for racial extremism. In his numerous
essays
and books
he shows himself to be a real racist and hater of Jews. He
does not shrink from denunciations and actions on the
quiet,
if
they
are
apt
to harm a Jewish
colleague (Sandner, 1990).
The 'Jewish
problem'
is one of
Passarge
's main themes
and can be found in all his
writings.
In
my mind,
this
clearly
disqualifies
him as a scientist.
'Machinery culture', 'paci-
fism',
'Bolshevism and the Proletarian World Revolution'
all
'definitely originate
from Jewish influence'. His
study
'Judaism as a
problem
in
landscape
studies and
ethnology'
came out in 1929. It was most
favourably
reviewed
by
Bruno
Dietrich,
Fritz Machatschek and others.
Passarge
's view of
life lacks orientation.
Looking
for
explanations,
Judaism is
made the
scapegoat
for a
supposed
'downfall' and 'cultural
decay'. Passarge
does not shrink from
giving geographi-
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288
cally
substantiated instructions how to solve this
problem
according
to his Social Darwinist
ideology.
'Judaism has
contributed to the ill and
overly rapid development
of our
civilisation which is
likely
to break down as a
whole,
before
the
absorption
of the Jews will have been
completed'.
The
only remedy
is 'a
strong
sword and reckless
daredevildom',
so that 'those
races,
which are
martially
bred in battle
against
hostile men . . . and natural
forces, get
the
upper
hand
again.
Then the
heyday
of the blond race will come
again,
while
Eastern races and Jews will sink down to
nothing.
Then the
ill
symptoms
of a
decaying
culture will
disappear',
writes
Passarge
in 1925.
In his list of Jewish character
traits, Passarge
holds the
opinion
that
Judaism, especially
the Polish East
Jews,
the in-
sults can still be
enhanced,
can
only
be contained
by setting
up ghettos.
In these 'Jewish
ghettos' 'fights
for existence'
will break
out,
in the course of which 'the unfit will be
removed'.
They
are the 'enemies of
any healthy
cultural de-
velopment'. Passarge's
'Doctrines of
landscape science,
race
hygienics,
character research and cultural
history', praised
by
most of his
colleagues,
culminates in the assertion: 'It
is
simply impossible
to live
peacefully together
with this
people.' (Passarge, 1925)
Reading Passarge's writings,
one is haunted
by
a brute's
language
and
thought
in
every
line. In the
early 1920s,
Passarge already
disseminates
contempt
for human
beings
wrapped
in the cloak of scientific
attempts
at
establishing
the
truth. Later
geopolitical
excesses will not be able to
surpass
his radicalism. With
Passarge,
Anti-Semitism
joins
cultural
pessimism
come
together.
He declares his Anti-Semitic rush
as
'preparatory
work' for his
'Comparative
Political
Geogra-
phy
and
Comparative Geographical Ethnology' (1936).
He
urges
to rate 'the influence of race'
higher
than 'the influ-
ence of
landscape' (1924).
For this reason he also lashes the
geo-determinism
of
geopolitics
and calls it a false
step
made
by
'modern
geomancers.
. . If the
geomancers
succeed in in-
ducing
the National Socialist leaders to subscribe to their
thoughts
and
demands,
the wishes of all enemies of National
Socialism will come true'
(1934).
A
variety
of Anti-Semitic statements can be found in the
writings
of different
geographers.
This accumulation cannot
be called
single slips
of
supposedly wrong-going
outsiders.
Let us have a
look,
for
example,
at Otto Maull's Political
Geography
which was
published
more or less
unchanged
in
a new edition after 1945. Maull
sharply
declares himself
against
the race theorists around von Eickstedt and others.
At the same
time, however,
he also
polemizes against
'Yid-
dish
speaking
East
Jews',
'Jewish world
supremacy'
etc.
Maull can
by
all means be called a
representative
of na-
tional conservative Anti-Semitism. The
picture
of the Jewish
population,
Otto Maull draws in his Political
Geography,
is
an
expression
of national conservative Anti-Semitism,
that
was
already
normal with the German
bourgeoisie
in the 19th
century.
The
capitalistic process
of
change
as well as the
workers' democratic
participation
demands are
interpreted
as
'typical
Jewish
ways
of
thinking'.
Even
though
Maull
clearly
criticises racial Anti-Semitism,
his cultural Anti-
Semitism is a characteristic result of a conservative criticism
of civilisation. This attitude was
popular
at the
beginning
of the 20th
century
and
proceeds quite breachlessly
to the
blood and soil
ideology. Therefore,
Maull in 1938 wel-
comes 'Austria's return home under
politic-geographical
and
geopolitical
conditions' as a
necessary
measure
against
the
'Jewish
infiltration',
for which he holds
responsible
'Vienna
Judaism'. His recommendation is
unequivocal:
'Vienna Ju-
daism' obstructs the
unrejectable space requirements (Maull,
1938).
More
geographers
could be
named,
who
expressed
them-
selves in a
clearly
Anti-Semitic
way
before as well as
after 1933.
They gave,
of
course, geographic
reasons for
their statements which were delivered
seemingly
neutral and
without valuation.
For Walther
Vogel,
for
example,
one of the renowned
geographers
of his
time,
Judaism and Socialism
-
both,
of
course,
undesirable
-
were
actually
the same evil. Accord-
ing
to
Vogel,
all manifestations of the modern
time,
be it
large cities,
masses and
democracy,
or
working
class and
socialism, originate
from Judaism.
Judaism, says Vogel,
is
'poison'
for the 'life of
every nation',
as it is in the nature of
the Jewish infusion to strive for subversion of authorities. As
early
as 1925 he concludes:
'They',
that is the
Jews,
'have
assumed the role of a ruler. This is unbearable. To overthrow
them is therefore the basic
precondition
for
Germany's
re-
newal'. In
consequence, geographic-geopolitical
substanti-
ated Anti-Semitism became the
political programme aiming
at
cleansing
and
strengthening
the German will.
After 1933
hostility against
Jews in
geographic publi-
cations takes new
dimensions,
with
regard
to
quantity
as
well as
quality. Finally, says
Oswald Muris,
the efforts to-
wards the realisation of a 'nation in the National Socialist
sense of the word' were successful. 'After fourteen
years
of
fight against
liberalism, Marxism,
and the disastrous
Jewish
poison,
it
prevailed
on
January 30,
1933'
(Muris
1936).
Anti-Semitism had numerous followers
among
Ger-
man
university geographers
in the 1930 and
1940s, among
them Machatschek, Weigt,
Geliert and others. Their
accep-
tance of anti-semitism went
beyond opportunistic preface-
confessions. It is to demonstrate this that I
give
another
example.
In
1938,
Emil
Meynen,
later head of the Federal
Research Institute for
Background
Studies and
Development
(BFLR), published
an educational letter on the
subject
of
Germany.
This letter is soaked with terms of Hitler Fascism.
The Weimarer
Republic
for him reflects the 'Jewish
state'. Judaism has
only
one
aim,
that is
'destroying
the
idea of a German
people.
A
triumph
in
destroying
the idea
of
'Germany'
was achieved' states
Meynen,
'when the Jew
Hugo
Preu elaborated the Weimar constitution. It could not
have been different. A Jew could have no sense of the idea
of the German
people
which fills the term
'Germany'.
Meynen
lashes 'materialistic'
thoughts
and iiberalistic
Jewish
thoughts'.
For him this is the
'poison
of a
principle
ignorant
of life'. Anti-Semitism in different forms is
only
one
aspect
of the NS
ideology
which is the
general princi-
ple filling
this
essay
with the
language
of
inhumanity.
The
original
words of
Meynen:
'The Jewish-democratic constitu-
tion of the Weimar
Republic
aims at
surpassing
the
powers
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of the French Revolution
by giving
and
securing
the Jews
equality
of
rights
as well as economic and
exploiting rights
in
Germany.
Greater
Germany,
wake
up!' (Meynen, 1938).
Meynen
is not the
only geographer
who
pays
tribute to
this kind of National Socialist Anti-Semitism. In
1942,
Wal-
ter
Geiler, professor
of
Geography
at the Posen
university,
even
goes
one
step
further. In his
publications,
he
justifies
the
persecution
of Poles and Jews. He demands the 'eradi-
cation of
disagreeable
elements'.
Furthermore,
he deals with
the
purge
of Eastern
Europe
in
great length. Unfortunately,
I cannot
spare you
another citation. Geiler
says: 'Purg-
ing
comes before construction.
Everything
which cannot be
brought
into line with the new
plan
or
struggles against
it has
to be
destroyed.
Unculture has to be exterminated.'
By
'un-
culture',
Geiler means all
signs
of Jewish and Polish culture
in
villages
and cities.
'Nothing
else can be done than
tearing
everything
down and
building
it
up again.'
In this
genocidal
annihilation
war,
it is the
geographer's duty, according
to
Geiler,
to calculate the countries
carrying capacity.
This
essay
is a
catalogue
of how to use
geography
in the East
pol-
itics of Hitler fascism. 'In times of
reconstruction, fighters
alone are useful.'
(Geiler, 1942).
The
hardly imaginable fright
of the
persecution
of Jews
and their
extermination,
was known
among geographers.
Excursions were made in the
neighbourhood
of concentra-
tion
camps (Gabriele Schwarz, 1985). Developments
were
described and
approved,
as Erwin Scheu did in his 'Ge-
ographische
Zeitschrift'
(German Geographical Magazine)
in 1941.
Did
professors
have to write such
texts,
when the NS
Anti-Semitism became a
topic
of scientific interest? Even
during
the nationalsocialist
dictatorship
there is no neces-
sity
to think and to write
merely
in the terms of NS
-
terror
system.
It is also a kind of
opportunism
and scientists
sup-
porting
the
NS-ideology
are involved too. The
geographers
whose texts have been
quoted,
stand for a number of
pro-
fessors of
Geography
who used their
publications
to confess
their Anti-Semitism.
Among
them were
Banse, Gley,
von
Muris, Fochler-Hauke,
J.H. Schultze etc. Most of them con-
tinued their career after 1945.
Hostility
towards Jews found
many
followers
among geographers
before 1945. Similar
statements can be found in
geopolitical publications, though
fewer and less radical.
Another variation in
propagating
Anti-Semitic
thoughts
can be found in
geography
lessons at
school,
where 'Ju-
daism', 'Military geography'
and 'Colonialism' were
put
on
the curriculum. At the
Geographers' Meeting
in Jena
1937,
W. Jantzen
states,
'it is also the
geography
teachers'
duty
to
join
the
fight
for a
pure
race'
(Jantzen, 1937).
Geographers
between
normality
and
adaptation
Summary
The number of Anti-Semitic
opinions
found in
geographical
and
geopolitical
literature
gives
evidence of a
wide-spread
hostility
towards Jews before 1945.
Only very
few critical
dissenting
voices like Waibel in 1934 and Erich Obst in
289
Figure
3. Anti-Semitism in school education
(Jantzen, O.J.).
1920 branded Anti-Semitism as
being propaganda
of
po-
litical
rightists.
At that
time,
Obst still finds the students'
and scholars' Anti-Semitism a
disgrace
and a
challenge
to
Germany's reputation
as a culture
nation, though
he seems
to lose these
scruples
later. These
attitudes, however,
are ex-
ceptions
before 1945. The
picture
of the Jewish
population
in the
geographic
literature is to a
large degree
even before
1933,
determined
by bias,
hidden behind a
pretended
scien-
tific
impartiality. However,
we have to differentiate. There
certainly
is a difference between the
hostility
towards the
Jews of the 1920s and the NS
politics, though
the latter
profited
from Anti-Semitic
pioneers.
It has to be traced to what extent Anti-Semitism served
as
ideological bridge
between
geography
and
geopolitics.
Common enemies like
freemasons, pacifists,
socialists and
Jews determined the educational elite's consciousness
long
before Hitler fascism assumed
power.
This shows a wide-
spread
anti-democratic
tendency among geographers
and
geopoliticians
which
proceed
to an
acceptance
of National
Socialist
thoughts
after 1933.
It is
striking
that German
geopolitics only very rarely
deals with
Jews,
but reduces the
question
to an 'East Jew
problem'. Probably,
the reason for this lies in the
dominating
role of Karl Haushofer who in his studies and
publications
rates
space
more
important
than
race,
besides
being
affected
himself.
The radical Anti-Semitism
among
German
geopoliti-
cians
mainly originates
from authors like
Seraphim
and von
Loesch,
who are
only marginally
related to Geo-sciences.
Independent
from
geopolitics,
there are lots of
proofs
for an
autochthonously developed
Anti-Semitism
among
German
university geographers long
before
geopolitics
is
created. In more or less
opportunistic adaption
to an altered
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290
order of the
day, they
rather
benevolently
watched and de-
scribed the
persecution
of Jews and even made it the
subject
of their
geographical
research.
For this reason it is not true to
say
that
geopolitics
exerted
a one-sided
influencing
control on research and theories of
German
geography.
School
geography
here is an
excep-
tion,
at least with
regard
to
semantics,
as it was now called
school
geopolitics
without
any
theoretical and methodical
differences.
Consequences for present
time
Geography
Anti-Semitism stands for intolerance
against
national and
dissenting
minorities. In
1947,
Carl Troll
honestly
stated
his
opinion regarding
this
topic.
He aimed at the
quick
whitewashing
of German
Geography
and its
representatives,
especially
in the
eyes
of their
foreign colleagues.
The result
was a
very
limited form of self-reflection. Trolls'
equation
of
National Socialist influence
=
geopolitics
=
Karl Haushofer
which is
presented
here in an
abridged form,
is intolerable
and untrue. In 1946 Haushofer committed suicide
together
with his wife. In 1947 he could no more
oppose
these ac-
cusations,
neither did the German
university geographers
speak against
it.
They
were
mainly
interested in
getting
back
their old
positions, pushing away
and
making forget
their
entanglement
with the National Socialist
dictatorship.
Beside the scientific
debate,
there is also the
personal
and moral dimension to which I can
only briefly
refer here.
In their
preface
to the
Philippson-Autobiography
Bhm and
Mehmel
proved,
under the
heading
'
Forms of Concealment
'
,
how wide and
complex persecution
was even
among
col-
leagues
before 1933. The
colleagues'
behaviour was so
much more
embarassing
after
1945,
when
they suddenly
recognised Philippson's
'merit' and asked him to issue Ter-
silscheine',
a kind of
political
harmlessness certificate used
for rehabilitation.
Troll who never was a member of the NSDAP
himself,
nevertheless benefited from the
party
in
many regards.
In
the aforementioned
essay,
Troll comments on
Philippson's
fate, using according
to Bhm / Mehmel,
terms of the 'NS-
language' (Bhm,
Mehmel, XV).
The students' criticism mentioned at the
beginning
of the
paper
is
right
here
(Arbeitskreis 'Geographie
und Faschis-
mus' der
Bundesfachschaftentagung Geographie, 1997).
The
repression
of one's own
history, responsibility
and iden-
tity,
which took
place especially
in German
geography,
can't be
approved.
Troll's
interpretation
of the behaviour of
German
geographers
in the National Socialist time is still
popular today.
A more critical
in-depth
discussion of the
past
has
hardly
taken
place.
Lots of
essays
which influenced
research and
teaching
after 1945 are still
awaiting
intensive
study
and
analysis.
There are textbooks and basic
writings
which were
reprinted
after 1945 without
having
been sub-
ject
to
any major changes.
The
history
of
geography
in
Germany
is coined
by
too much undifferentiated continu-
ity
without critical and theoretical reflections. New names
have been
given
for 'old'
antiquated
research-themes,
for
instance,
colonial
geography
is revived as a new
discipline
which is called
developing
countries research now. There are
paradigms
and theories in
space
research and
landscape
de-
velopment
too. There are lots of
opportunities
for
reforming
and further
developing
our
subject Geography by
historical
reflections.
Unfortunately, reality
is different. The whole dimension
of
illiberality
and anti-democratic attitudes which
predomi-
nated the work of
some, maybe
even numerous
geographers
before 1933 and even more until
1945,
was
hardly
dealt with
after 1945.
Before
1945, many geographers
devoted themselves to
'Nationality
and
boundary fights',
colonial
geography,
de-
fence
geography,
and also to studies
dealing
with
population
geography
and economic
geography.
Under the cloak of re-
search and scientific
work,
motives can be found similar to
those
underlying
Anti-Semitism. This is no
special
feature
of
geopolitics,
neither was it restricted to this
subject.
There
were lots of intellectual
providers
for the Nazis.
Geopolitics
in its historic as well as in its
present
di-
mension should be viewed
critically, though.
This
essay
is
no
attempt
at white-
washing geopolitics
which until 1945
hardly
holds its
ground
when measured with scientific stan-
dards. These tendencies come
up again nowadays (Ebeling,
1994; Brill, 1994) accompanying
a renaissance of
geopoli-
tics.
Geopolitics
was and still is an
everyday
term of a more
journalistic quality
which is used to
popularize
world and
foreign policy
affairs.
It is
imperative
to deal with one's own
history.
The same
holds true for the
history
of one's
discipline.
I could enu-
merate a number of themes still
awaiting
discussion. So far
there is no
history
of
geographical
associations. We have not
dealt with the
continuity problem
of
persons,
theories and
research themes before and after 1945. To
us,
the
history
of
the
discipline
is a
partly
nice, partly annoying accessory.
We
underestimate the
importance
of a historical consciousness,
for
example
dialectical reflection and cultivation of
identity.
History
is the foundation of
(discipline) politics (Hnsch
and
Wardenga, 1995).
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