The Nazi and East German books featured in Geography Books of Evil not only teach geography but focus on the superiority of their systems. The Nazis killed eleven million in their camps (not to mention the millions on the battlefield) while Communism is well into the 100+ million. Examine the worldviews and compare it to yourself.
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In research class yesterday I read social geographers criticisms of GIS. One of the charges was that GIS is "evil" because it was "partly funded by the military." I'll put up a scan latter. I was floored by this claim of "evilness" in Geography. The fact that the claim came from a field of geography infested by Marxists only made me more dumbfounded.
So I wondered if I could find any really evil Geography. Then, like a sign from above, the German Propaganda Archive from Calvin College provided everything I needed.
First up are excerpts from a Nazi Geography book. The book rants on how Germans "need more space." The classic Nazism in this book is:
- Our development into an industrial state dependent on world markets was intensified by the economic losses resulting from the dictates of
The second evil book is a civics book from the Democratic Republic of Germany (
Maybe the East Germans weren't completely evil. The third book explains why it was good for
Category: Books
2 comments:
As a German, I cannot stop myself from sharing my point of view on this german-heavy post. West-German political maps of the fifties and sixties usually show Germany divided in three parts: The western Federal Republic of Germany, the middle part (GDR), "occupied by soviet union", and the eastern part, "currently under Polish administration." The Western-German government saw itself as only legitimate (that means elected) German government (rightly so). It alone therefore had the right to represent the German people. In consequence, the GDR was not seen as a independent state, but as an area of Germany occupied by the soviets. Because the East-German "government" had no authority to sign the Görlitz-Treaty, this Treaty was meaningless to the Federal Republic of Germany. Therefore from a western viewpoint, the German Eastern Territories remained under Polish administration, but did not become part of Poland, until a peace-treaty was signed by a legitimate German government, like stated in the Potsdam agreement. So, this is why this German roadmap shows Germany in the borders of 1937. When talking about the Oder-Neisse-Linie, one must always keep in mind, that Stalin "gave" the Poles a piece of Germany, but took Eastern-Poland, which he had occupied in 1939, so Poland was moved westwards. The Germans in the now Polish area were driven out, and replaced by people who had formerly lived in the now soviet part of Poland, from were they were driven out. I surely would like to be driven from my home by force, allowed to take with me what I can carry on my back, and not being allowed to come back, not only for a visit. So, it surely was a good thing to give land to Poland. Why didn't those stubborn western imperialists see this? At least, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany saw it (after the soviets had kindly explained it to them) so they weren't that bad after all.
No technology in itself is evil, but reflects the developer's intentions. GIS may have been developed and pushed help cause effective and efficient death and destruction, but like the Internet, has been employed for things that are of a more benign nature.
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