Walter Geisler (geographer)

Walter Geisler (born May 15, 1891 in Dessau , † September 20, 1945 in Teupitz ) was a German geographer and spatial planner .

Live and act

After graduating from high school in Dessau, Geisler, the son of a master craftsman and locksmith, studied geography , German literature and history at the universities of Tübingen, Munich, Leipzig, Zurich and Halle (Saale). Since he was not suitable for combat missions for health reasons, he was only classified as suitable for labor service during the First World War and could therefore also work as a teacher. For this reason, he had also the opportunity in 1917 when Otto Schlüter at the University of Halle with the theme: " The city of Danzig settlement to" graduate . In the following years his studies focused on the Vistula region , and he published the results of his research. Through this work and through the publication of his series of magazines: On the Economic Geography of the German East and through the publications " The economic development opportunities in the integrated eastern regions of the German Reich " published after 1939 on behalf of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Ethnicity , Geisler acquired the reputation of an expert for Eastern Europe, especially for Silesia . In the meantime habilitation he did in 1920 at the University of Greifswald , but was already two years later to Halle umhabilitieren where you then him a teaching position for card customer and geographical surveying transferred. During this time he undertook an extensive research trip through Australia and New Zealand between 1925 and 1927 . This resulted in several recognized publications on the morphology , landscape, settlement, economy and culture of this world region. Geisler was therefore considered to be the best German expert on this continent at the time.

In 1929 he moved to the Technical University of Breslau as a full professor , where he taught until 1936. Here he joined the NSDAP as well as the Reichskolonialbund , the Bund Deutscher Osten and the Reichsluftschutzbund in May 1933 . In addition, he temporarily took over a vacant chair at the Herder Institute in Riga , the only private German university of the time, and worked temporarily for the American government as a consultant for the German-Polish border. At the instigation of the Reich Ministry of Education and against the express reservations of the incumbent Aachen Rector Otto Gruber , the staunch National Socialist Geisler was finally appointed professor of geography at RWTH Aachen University in 1936 and, among other things, dealt with economic and border-political issues as well as urban geography and military issues to treat. For this he was granted a grant of 1,200 RM by the incumbent Aachen District President Franz Vogelsang , with which Geisler created the five-volume work "On the economic geography of the German West" .

Finally, in 1941 Geisler was appointed to the newly founded University of Posen in the same position , where he taught as Vice-Rector at the end of the war in 1945 until shortly before its dissolution. Geisler was seriously injured during a Volkssturm mission in the Berlin area and died on September 20, 1945 in the hospital.

Works (selection)

• The Vistula landscape from Thorn to Danzig ; G. Westermann, Braunschweig, 1922
• The German city. A contribution to the morphology of the cultural landscape , Engelhorn, Stuttgart 1925 ( online )
• The image of the earth; a guide and practical course for the entire map science , E. Thamm, Halle (Saale), 1925
• Australia and Oceania in nature, culture and economy. Antarctica (together with Walter Behrmann and Erich von Drygalski ), Athenaion publishing house, Potsdam 1930
• Australia, New Zealand and Oceania ; Zentral Verlag, Berlin, 1932
• Upper Silesia Atlas. With the collaboration of numerous experts , Volk und Reich Verlag, Berlin, 1938
• The ports of Holland and Flanders ; Heimat Verlag Aachen, 1940
• What structure and what design should the central locations of the East and their catchment areas receive in the future? For official use only. 60 pages: Author: Walter Geisler. (= Structure and design of the central locations of the German east: joint work on behalf of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft für Raumforschung . Leipzig: Koehler 1941.2)

Literature and Sources

• Ulrich Kalkmann: The Technical University of Aachen in the Third Reich (1933–1945) . Verlag Mainz, Aachen 2003, ISBN 3-86130-181-4 , ( Aachener Studies on Technology and Society 4), (At the same time: Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2003), Google Books .
• Götz Aly , Susanne Heim : thought leaders of annihilation. Auschwitz and the German plans for a new European order . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-11268-0 , p. 192 ff. (First 1991).
• Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Updated 2nd edition. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
• Michael A. Hartenstein : New Village Landscapes. National Socialist settlement planning in the "integrated eastern areas" 1939 to 1944 . Publishing house Dr. Köster, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-89574-295-3 .
• Mechthild Rössler: Science and living space. Geographical research on the East under National Socialism . Reimer, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-496-00394-4 .
• Felix Monheim:  Geisler, Walter. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 155 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Geisler in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Walter Geisler in the Catalogus Professorum Halensis