New Swabia
From Open Encyclopedia
Image:NewSwabiaMap.jpg Image:Schwabenland.jpg Image:LogoNeu.jpg
| Activities in Antarctica During the 20th Century | |
|---|---|
| International agreements | |
| Antarctic Treaty System | |
| British Commonwealth activities | |
| Scott's 1st expedition (1901-04) | |
| Shackleton's 1st expedition (1907-09) | |
| Scott's 2nd expedition (1910-13) | |
| Shackleton's 2nd expedition (1914-17) | |
| Shackleton's 3rd expedition (1921-22) | |
| Mawson's expedition (1929-31) | |
| The Graham Land Expedition (1934-37) | |
| Operation Tabarin (1943-45) | |
| Fuch's expedition (1955-58) | |
| French activities | |
| Charcot's 1st expedition (1903-05) | |
| Charcot's 2nd expedition (1908-10) | |
| German activities | |
| Drygalski's expedition (1901-03) | |
| Filchner's expedition (1911-12) | |
| The New Swabia Expedition (1938-39) | |
| Norwegian activities | |
| Amundsen's expedition (1910-12) | |
| U.S. activities | |
| Operation Highjump (1946-47) | |
| Operation Windmill (1947-48) | |
| Ronne's expedition (1947-48) | |
| Operation Deep Freeze (1955-98) | |
Neu-Schwabenland or Neuschwabenland (New Swabia in English), is an area of Antarctica between 20°E and 10°W (overlapping a portion of Norway's claim zone Queen Maud Land), which was claimed by Germany between 19 January 1939 and 8 May 1945.
Contents |
History
Like many other countries, Germany sent several expeditions to the Antarctic region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of them were scientific. The expeditions in the late 19th century were astronomical, meteorological and hydrological, and took place in the Southern Ocean and on South Georgia, Kerguelen Islands and Crozet Islands, mostly in close collaboration with scientific teams from other countries. However, at the end of the 19th century, the Germans started to focus on Antarctica itself.
The first German Antarctic Expedition (1901-1903), led by Arctic veteran and professor of geology, Erich von Drygalski , was the first to use a hot-air balloon in Antarctica. It also discovered and named Kaiser Wilhelm II Land.
The second German Antarctic Expedition (1911-1912), led by Wilhelm Filchner, aimed to cross Antarctica in an attempt to determine if Antarctica was one piece of land. The crossing-attempt failed before it could even be started, but the expedition discovered and named the Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf.
The third German Antarctic Expedition (1938-1939), led by Alfred Ritscher (1879-1963), had very different objectives, however: the main purpose was to secure an area in Antarctica for a German whaling station, as part of a plan to increase Germany’s production of fat. Whale oil was then the most important raw material for the production of margarine and soap in Germany, and the country was the second largest purchaser of Norwegian whale oil, importing some 200,000 metric tons annually. Besides the disadvantage of being dependant on foreign sources, especially as it was obvious that Germany soon would be at war, it also put considerable pressure on Germany’s foreign currency assets. A German whaling fleet had put to sea in 1937, and when it successfully returned in the spring of 1938, the plans for the third German Antarctic Expedition were initiated. The goal of the expedition was to identify a suitable area on the Antarctic coast that could be occupied in order to set up a base for the German catching fleets, and to prepare the ground for the next two expeditions, that were planned for 1939-1940 and 1940-1941. The purpose of these expeditions was to search for suitable whaling grounds and – more importantly – to manifest Germany’s territorial claims in the Antarctic. The second expedition was also to address some military issues, probably investigate the feasibility of naval bases from where Germany could control the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Drake Passage. However, these expeditions had to be cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II.
The expedition
On December 17, 1938, the third German Antarctic Expedition, departed Hamburg for Antarctica on board the Schwabenland, a freighter capable of carrying and catapulting aircraft. The actual expedition had 33 members and the Schwabenland had a crew of 24. In January 1939 the ship arrived in an area already claimed in 1938 by Norway as Dronning Maud Land and began charting the region. In the following weeks, 15 flights were made by the ship’s two Dornier Wal aircraft (named Passat and Boreas) over an area which some claim was 600,000 square km (but others claim it was half that size). These missions resulted in more than 11,000 aerial photographs of the area. The expedition positioned three German flags along the coast and the aircraft dropped a further 13 inland, as a way to assert Germany’s claim to the area, which was named Neu-Schwabenland. Teams also walked along the coast making claim reservations on hills and other significant positions. The expedition established a temporary base and also reported the discovery of hot springs with vegetation in some areas of the (so-called) Schirmer Lakes. In February 1939 the Schwabenland returned to Germany.
Legal standing
No country ever recognized Germany's claim, and the post-war Antarctica treaty effectively suspended those made by all countries. Although some have insisted that, through a legal loophole, the German Third Reich still exists judicially within the former borders of New Swabia, this is not supported by either German or international law, nor by the terms of the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers signed by representatives of the German government on 8 May 1945, the date usually given for Germany's abandonment of the claim. The name Neuschwabenland (and sometimes "New Schwabenland" or New Swabia) is still used for the area on some maps, as are some of the German names given to geographic features in the area. The current German research station, "Neumayer-Station", is located very close to the New Swabia area.
Nazi mythology
- An esoteric Hitlerist legend recounts that Adolf Hitler did not commit suicide in 1945, but fled to Argentina, then to an SS base under the ice in New Swabia during the early 1950s where he either disappeared into the hollow earth or resumed his career as a painter - until the 1960s when he was taken by aliens to Aldebaran, where he is planning a campaign to conquer the planet. According to this account, Neu Schwabenland becomes the underground control center for a Nazi moon base.
- Operation Highjump the largest expedition mounted to the Antarctica is similarly claimed to have been sent to wipe out the Nazi presence. There are also (wholly unsupported) claims that a scout plane was buzzed by flying saucers bearing Nazi insignia.
For more about Nazi mythology see also
Sources, References & External links
- 1901-03 German Antarctic Expedition Scott Polar Research Institute
- 1911-12 German Antarctic Expedition Scott Polar Research Institute
- Secret Mission to the Antarctic Abstract from research paper by Cornelia Lüdecke 2003, about the 1938-39 German Antarctic Expedition
- Former German colonies and territories
- WorldStatesmen- Antarctica
| edit | Former German Schutzgebiete ('protectorates'- includes ordinary protectorates) | |
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Colonized territories - In Africa: German East Africa (Tanganyika -now in Tanzania-, Rwanda, Burundi) | German South-West Africa (now Namibia) | German West Africa (Kamerun=Cameroons, Togoland -Togo) | In the Pacific: German New Guinea and associated Pacific islands (Caroline Islands, German Solomon Islands, Mariana Islands, Nauru, Palau, (German) Marshall Islands) | German Samoa (later West Samoa, now Samoa)| Concession territories in China: Kiaochow (Kiautschou) | Tsingtao (leased)| Ineffective claim : New Swabia in Antarcticade:Neuschwabenland nl:Neuschwabenland sv:Neu Schwabenland |
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