Atlas of History (GDR)

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Atlas zur Geschichte is the name of the two-volume history atlas that was published in the GDR in 1976 and became authoritative among communist historians. The publisher was the Central Institute for History of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR together with the VEB Hermann Haack . Lothar Berthold was the head of the editorial committee .

General

The atlas was produced with considerable technical effort, even if it was printed on - from a western point of view - relatively poor paper (especially the index parts). According to their own information, the first volume (for the period up to 1917) has 275 cards and the second (for 1917 to 1976) 174 cards. In the GDR a volume cost 29 M each , abroad 39 DM.

In accordance with the ideological guidelines, economic history and, above all, social uprisings and the left movements occupy a large area. In the “Preliminary Remarks” (p. XV) to the second volume, the editorial committee writes that the maps represent “the main lines of the class struggle ”, “above all the great class battles, primarily the revolution , and inextricably linked with it the economy, which political-territorial changes, but also intellectual-cultural processes ”. In the second volume "the main emphasis should be placed on the formation and development of the three powerful revolutionary currents" which drive the progress of mankind: the world socialist system, the international labor movement and the national liberation movement of the peoples. "

The ideologically restrictive and propagandistic representation sometimes leads to overlong map titles, such as “The wars of conquest of the Roman slave-owning state and the Germanic people's struggle for freedom ” (Vol. 1, p. 14) or “Construction and development of the city of Rostock under the conditions of the workers and peasants -Might 1945-1970 "(vol. 2, p. 78).

Examples of the historical picture of the atlas

One of the cards deals with the following topic: “The November Revolution in Germany. The revolutionary struggles in Berlin from November 1918 to March 1919 ”(vol. 2, p. 9). It is explicitly mentioned: " Karl Liebknecht proclaims the free socialist republic from the balcony of the palace", while Philipp Scheidemann's speech is missing.

A problem for the GDR historiography and the Atlas editors was the fact that the Soviet Union had concluded a pact with the German Reich under Adolf Hitler in 1939 to partition Eastern Europe (" Hitler-Stalin Pact "), with the subsequent occupation and annexation Eastern Poland , Bessarabia , Northern Bukovina , the Baltic States and parts of Finland through the Soviet Union. Therefore, the Soviet western frontier, which was changed in 1939/40, appears quite suddenly, namely on a map preceding the Second World War: "The victory of socialist production relations in the USSR and the economic development up to the fascist attack on June 22, 1941" (Vol. 2, p . 34, I). There one speaks of the "State border of the USSR on June 22nd, 1941". The annexed areas of eastern Poland are referred to as "reunited" with Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Belarus between September 17 and November 2, 1939, the Baltic states were "admitted to the USSR".

On this map, the old names of cities then named by the Soviets are given in brackets, e.g. B. "Kirow (until 1934 Vyatka)". Stalinizations abroad, such as in Romania until after Stalin's death, are not documented. The reader does not learn either that there was a "Stalin city" in the GDR. The city has always been called Eisenhüttenstadt in the Atlas .

A map of the first phase of the Second World War (vol. 2, p. 39) shows the Soviet-annexed areas in a lighter shade of red, with dates (except for eastern Poland), but without further explanation. The map only has arrows denoting military action for National Socialist Germany. Katyn , a place where the Soviet Union murdered tens of thousands of Polish officers in the Katyn massacre and then buried them in several mass graves , does not appear in the entire Atlas of History , according to the register .

The Holocaust does not play a role in the atlas: on the map “ Fascist Concentration Camps from 1939 to 1945” (vol. 2, p. 38), a total of eleven million victims is mentioned. The word “ Jew ” does not appear on the whole page, just a map symbol called “Great Ghetto in Poland”. In general, the atlas speaks of “prisoners” or “concentration camp prisoners”, emphasizing the economic aspect of the concentration camp system. "Jewish citizens" are briefly mentioned as victims on another card (vol. 2, p. 48, I) on the "anti-fascist resistance", but excluded from a specified number of victims.

The German Wehrmacht signed the surrender on May 8, 1945 in Reims , vis-à-vis the Western powers, and a day later in Berlin-Karlshorst vis-à-vis the Soviet Union. However, the atlas only mentions May 8th as the date that appears near Berlin (vol. 2, p. 44).

In the atlas there is no reference to the expulsion of Germans from the eastern areas of the German Reich and German settlement areas in Eastern European countries. In "Germany after World War II / The Potsdam Agreement" (vol. 2, p. 63), the eastern areas fall under "former Prussian territory", while the temporary separation of the Saarland by France and its incorporation into the French state association as "not in the Separation of territories envisaged by the Potsdam Agreement ”is documented. Only for northern East Prussia , today's Kaliningrad Oblast , is an inscription on the map. Even with the treatment of Poland after 1945 (vol. 2, p. 83) there is no explanation for the westward shift of the country.

Population transfers as a result of the outcome of the Second World War or as a result of the agreements between Hitler and Stalin before 1941 are not presented. Instead, the authors emphasize the "plundering of temporarily occupied territories" by Anglo-American troops in Thuringia and West Saxony, but suppress the plundering of temporarily occupied western regions. Sectors of Berlin by Soviet troops.

With regard to the Korean War, there is a direct false claim: American troops , not North Korean , are said to have crossed the 38th parallel, as indicated by five blue arrows. The United Nations is not mentioned on the map, the UN troops are called "reinforcement of US aggression" (vol. 2, p. 89, I).

Suggestive representations

From the map legend about the "Air and Sea War 1939-45" (Volume 2, p. 45) it can be seen that the "Fascist Air Force" - National Socialism is consistently referred to as Fascism and the National Socialist regime as Hitler's Germany - "Terrorist attacks" flew, the "Soviet long-distance air forces " but only "blows [...] to undermine the military-economic power of the fascist hinterland". The Anglo-American air forces, however, flew "predominantly area attacks on residential areas", because this symbol is used most often on the map. A sub-map shows with pie charts what percentage of the living space was destroyed in selected cities, but this sub-map is limited to "the area designated as the Soviet occupation zone", as if this area were - in contrast to the "own" later ones West Zones - a special target for the British and US Air Forces.

Among the “socialist capitals” (vol. 2, p. 88) the atlas presents, among other things, “ Berlin - capital of the GDR ”. The buildings in West Berlin do not appear in orange, which according to legend stands for “built-up area”, but in green, which actually stands for “grassland”.

On a map about "The bilateral friendship treaties of the socialist states and the Warsaw treaty until 1970" (vol. 2, p. 81) it is mentioned in the legend that Albania left the Warsaw Pact in 1968 , the map itself hides this and that shows Albania in the same red as the other countries of the pact. The Prague Spring or its suppression is only mentioned on the map by the fact that a red flag with the date "16.10.1968" indicates an "Agreement on the temporary stay of armed forces of the Soviet Union on the territory of a socialist brother state". Since such a flag also occurs in other states, when several data are combined, a connection with the knockdown of a freedom movement is not noticeable. In Hungary , both the year 1947 and 1957 are mentioned on the flag.

Bibliographical reference

  • Atlas of History , Volume 1: From the Beginnings of Human Society to the Eve of the Great October Socialist Revolution in 1917, published by the Central Institute for History of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, 4th edition, Gotha: VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt, 1989. ISBN 3-7301-0040-8 . 256 pages (self-reported: 272 pages), 27 cm.
  • Atlas of History , Volume 2: From the Great October Socialist Revolution 1917 to 1976, published by the Central Institute for History of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, 3rd edition, Gotha: VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt, 1982. ISBN 3-7301-0041 -6 . 323 pages (self-reported: 248), 27 cm.