New Swabia
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New Swabia (German: Neuschwabenland) is a section of the continent Antarctica between 20°E and 10°W (overlapping a portion of Norway's claim zone Queen Maud Land), which was claimed by Nazi Germany between 19 January 1939 and 8 May 1945. It is named for the German region of Swabia.
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[edit] Early expeditions
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, the Kerguelen Islands and the 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 Gauss expedition, the first German Antarctic expedition, took place from 1901–1903. Led by Arctic veteran and geology professor Erich von Drygalski, it was the first expedition 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 even started but the expedition discovered and named the Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf. A German whaling fleet was put to sea in 1937, and when it successfully returned in the spring of 1938, plans for a third German Antarctic expedition were drawn up because of the war.
[edit] New Swabia expedition
The third German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939) was led by Alfred Ritscher (1879–1963). 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 dependent on foreign sources, especially since it was likely Germany soon would be at war, this put considerable pressure on Germany’s foreign currency assets.
On December 17, 1938 the New Swabia Expedition left Hamburg for Antarctica aboard the Schwabenland, a freighter capable of carrying and catapulting aircraft. The expedition had 33 members plus the Schwabenland's 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 reported as about 600,000 square kilometres (although others have claimed the area flown over was half this size). More than 16,000 aerial photographs were taken but these are still considered useless since they consist of more or less endless white images with no indications of latitude or longitude).[1] To assert Germany’s claim to newly named Neu-Schwabenland three German flags were placed along the coast and 13 more were air-dropped further inland. Some accounts claim these markers were 1.5-metre (5 ft)-tall iron poles topped with a swastika. These were dropped in the ice at intervals of about 30–40 kilometres (20–25 mi).[1] Teams also walked along the coast recording claim reservations on hills and other significant landmarks. The expedition also established a temporary base. Hot springs with vegetation were sighted from the air at Schirmacher Oasis which now hosts Maitri station. The location was named for the captain who commanded the flight shortly before the Schwabenland's return to Germany in February 1939.
Two more expeditions were scheduled for 1939–1940 and 1940–1941. These were expected to search for suitable whaling grounds and, more importantly, extend Germany’s territorial claims in the Antarctic. The second expedition would also address some military issues, probably investigating the feasibility of naval bases from which Germany could control the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean along with the Drake Passage. Both were cancelled with the outbreak of World War II.
The name Neuschwabenland (and sometimes New Schwabenland or New Swabia) is still used for the region on some maps, as are many of the German names given to its geographic features. Neumayer Station, Germany's current Antarctic research facility, is located in the New Swabia area.
[edit] Legal standing
No country ever recognized Germany's claim. Although individuals 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 unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers signed by representatives of the German government on May 8, 1945 (the date usually given for Germany's abandonment of the claim) leading to the Berlin Declaration made by the Allied Control Council, which legally dissolved Germany's civilian government and was further acknowledged in 1990 when a re-unified German government signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Hitler’s Antarctic base: the myth and the reality http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPOL%2FPOL43_01%2FS003224740600578Xa.pdf&code=f7669764d4ddc7b3d298f403f4d38dc7
[edit] References
- 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
- Hintergrundinformation zum Dronning-Maud-Land / Ostantarktis Technische Universität Dresden (German)
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| Non-officialized | Brazilian Antarctica | |
| Former | New Swabia | |
