Abstract
After World War II, the geological community in Germany was left in disarray. Most geoscience institutes, survey offices and museums had been damaged or destroyed. Geology, however, was in possession of crucial expertise for rebuilding the stricken country, which now was administrated by foreign military governments in four occupation areas. There were two nuclei for the revival of a German geological survey, the former Reichsamt für Bodenforschung in the Soviet Sector of Berlin and an important off-shoot of the Reichsamt, the Department of Petroleum Geology within the British occupation area in Celle near Hannover. It seemed only natural to assume that—once matters had settled down—Berlin would again play a vital role as a major centre of geology in years to come. Consequently, both offices cooperated, exchanging publications and geological information. Over the next couple of years, however, cooperation became progressively difficult. Berlin colleagues reported increasing political pressure and several had to answer for their naïve assumption that they still were part of a common all-German geological “family”. Having sent information on petroleum to western colleagues, they found themselves charged with espionage and treason, facing imprisonment and potentially worse. At the same time, communist propaganda endeavoured to discredit western geologists as fascist–capitalist agents.
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- 1.
For an introductory history of geology in Nazi Germany see Kölbl-Ebert (2017).
- 2.
Alfred Bentz (1897–1964) studied geology in Munich and Tübingen and took his Ph.D. in 1922 from the University of Tübingen. 1922–1923, he was assistant professor in Tübingen and then became geologist at the Geological Survey in Berlin. From 1934 onwards, he was director of the Institute for Petroleum Geology within the survey. In June 1945, he organized the reactivation of the Survey in Celle under the aegis of the British Military Government. He became director of the Geological Survey in Celle, later of the Geological Survey of West Germany. He retired in 1962 (Seibold and Seibold 2002; Kölbl-Ebert 2018).
- 3.
Albert Everard Gunther (1903–1998) studied geology in Oxford 1922–1925 and became a petroleum geologist for Shell Oil Co. He spent World War II in British military service. 1945–1947, he was supervisor of the German oil industry and the Geological Survey in the British Occupation Area. In 1947, he returned to Shell Oil Co. He retired around 1965 (Seibold Seibold 2002: 1087).
- 4.
For a timeline of political events, see Table 7.1.
- 5.
Ferdinand Friedensburg (1886–1972) studied mining and geology in Berlin and Marburg. In 1914, he obtained a doctorate degree in geology. He spent World War I as soldier and prisoner of war. 1920–1933, he had various occupations as journalist, administrator and politician. 1933, he was dismissed by the Nazi regime and in 1935 even imprisoned for some months. 1933–1945, he undertook research in mining geology as an independent, private scholar. In 1945, he became President of the Central Administration for Combustibles in the Soviet Zone. 1946–1952, he was Deputy Mayor of (West-)Berlin. From 1952–1965, he became a Member of Parliament in West Germany (Keiderling 2009).
- 6.
Otto Barsch (1879–1946) was leading geophysicist at the Berlin Geological Survey from 1907–1939. From 1939 to 1945, he possibly worked as military geologist. In 1945, he was appointed President of the Berlin Geological Survey (Kaemmel 2013: 24–29).
- 7.
Gustav Sobottka (1886–1953) was a mine worker since 1901. 1905–1908 saw him in military service. Since 1910, he was politically active in various parties (SPD, USPD, KPD) and miners’ unions. 1921–1932, he was a Member of the Prussian Parliament for the KPD. In 1933, he emigrated to the Saarland (then under French occupation), in 1935 he left for France. In November 1935, he immigrated to the Soviet Union and undertook political work for a miners’ union. 1938/39 he worked as a journalist for a German newspaper in Moscow, later he became political instructor in a camp for German prisoners of war. In May 1945, he returned to Germany and became Vice President of the Central Administration for Combustibles in November 1945. In August 1947, he was promoted President of this organization and in 1951 he was demoted to instructor in the mining industry (Weber 2010; https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3b-1424.html?ID=3321 [accessed 27 July 2017]).
- 8.
In all four occupation areas, there was some sort of denazification process, i.e. dismissal of Nazis from teaching positions and in administration and politics. Nevertheless, in August 1947, only 1.6% of former members of the Nazi Party NSDAP were unemployed in the Soviet Zone. As for the Berlin geologists, a commission of the Soviet Military Administration reviewing the political past of the Survey’s personnel found 1/3 of them to be former NSDAP members, among them several active National Socialists. However, none of them were subsequently dismissed (Kaemmel 2013: 9, 25).
- 9.
Erich Lange (1889–1965) worked as a geologist in Africa until 1914, when he was interned as German citizen by British authorities until 1918. In the 1920s, he was councillor for mineral resources at the Soviet Trade Mission in Berlin and worked for some time as a geologist in the Moscow Basin. In 1936, he became geologist at the Geological Survey in Berlin. Later in 1936 and until 1945, he worked as geologist for the German Colonial Office Reichskolonialbund. In 1945, he became geologist at the Soviet Scientific–Technical Office for the Coal Industry in the Soviet Occupation Area. In 1946, for a short time he was professor for fossil fuels at the Mining Academy in Freiberg. From October 1946–1955, he was employed as President of the Berlin Geological Survey. He was replaced in 1955 by Karl Neumann and parked as editor of the Survey’s journal (Kaemmel 2013, pp. 29–30; Remus 1987).
- 10.
I.e. the geological survey of West Germany.
- 11.
Bernhard Hirsch was head of the survey’s planning department. Under the Nazi regime, he had been prosecuted due to his communist convictions and his Jewish descent (Kaemmel 2013, p. 35).
- 12.
Wilhelm O. Kegel (1890–1971) studied geosciences in Marburg and Göttingen and obtained a doctorate degree from the University of Göttingen in 1910. 1912–1939, he was a geologist at the Geological Survey in Berlin and a military geologist during World War II. In 1945, he returned to the Survey. In 1946, he fled to West Germany. In 1949, he became a geology professor in Brazil (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Kegel; accessed 11 May 2018).
- 13.
Werner Paeckelmann (1890–1952) studied geology in Marburg and obtained his doctorate degree in 1913. Afterwards, he worked for the Berlin Geological Survey. He was a soldier in World War I and returned to his survey post in 1918. From 1939 to 1944, he was sent by the Survey to occupied Poland. He was arrested on 27 December 1946 and died in prison (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Paeckelmann, accessed 9 February 2016).
- 14.
Wilhelm G. A. Haack (1882–1947) studied geology in Göttingen and obtained his doctorate degree in 1907. From 1912 to 1939, he worked as geologist at the Geological Survey in Berlin. World War II, he spent as military geologist. In 1945, he returned to the Survey. In November 1946, he was arrested and died in prison (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Haack, accessed 9 February 2016).
- 15.
I.e. not members of the Nazi party NSDAP. Consequently, they were not subject to denazification.
- 16.
Walter Gothan (1879–1954) had studied geology and mining at the mining academies in Clausthal and Berlin as well as botany, chemistry and philosophy at the University of Jena. He obtained his doctorate degree with a palaeobotanical dissertation in 1905 from Jena. Since 1903, he worked at the Prussian Geological Survey (later named Reichsamt für Bodenforschung). In 1908, he qualified for professorship and lectured at the Berlin Mining Academy. He became honorary professor at the University of Berlin. Gothan left the survey in 1947 to become full professor for palaeobotany at the same university (Jahn 1964).
- 17.
Otto H. N. Schindewolf (1896–1971) studied science with a focus on geology and palaeontology in Göttingen and Marburg, obtaining a doctorate degree with a palaeontological thesis in 1919 from the University of Marburg. He became assistant in Marburg and qualified for professorship in 1921. He then worked at the Prussian Geological Survey and eventually became director of the collections and the library. In 1947, he became Chair of Palaeontology at the Berlin Humboldt University (East Berlin) but then moved to Tübingen on the palaeontological chair of the University of Tübingen (Zirnstein 2005).
- 18.
Georg Berg (1878–1946) studied geology, mineralogy and mining at the Freiberg Mining Academy and at the University of Leipzig. He obtained his doctorate degree from Leipzig in 1903 with a mineralogical thesis. He then worked at the Prussian Geological Survey (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geor_Ernst_Wilhelm_Berg; accessed 11 May 2011).
- 19.
Sobottka.
- 20.
Short for Deutsches Geologisches Landesamt, i. e. German Geological Survey.
- 21.
See Kölbl-Ebert (2018).
- 22.
From 24 June 1948 until 12 May 1949, road access to West Berlin was blocked by Soviet authorities and the city had to be supplied with food and medicine via airplanes.
- 23.
Hans Stille (1878–1966) studied chemistry and geology in Hannover and Göttingen. He obtained his doctorate degree in 1899 from the University of Göttingen with a tectonic thesis. After one year of military service, he came to the Prussian Geological Survey. In 1904, he qualified for a professorship. In 1908, he became chair of mineralogy, geology and smelting at the Technical University of Hannover. 1912, he was shortly professor at the University of Leipzig, but in 1913, he moved to the University of Göttingen. With the beginning of WWI, however, he was drafted as an officer and from 1917 onwards, he worked as a military geologist. After WWI, he returned to Göttingen. In 1932, he became chair of geology at Berlin University. In 1946, he founded an institute of geotectonics. He retired in 1950 and moved to West Germany (Sperling 2013).
- 24.
Paeckelmann.
- 25.
President Sobottka.
- 26.
Short for Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, i.e. the state party of the former GDR.
- 27.
Hermann Göring (1893–1946).
- 28.
- 29.
In 1938, the chemist Carl Krauch (1887–1968) became Commissioner General of the Vierjahresplan for the chemical industry, which also involved synthetic fuels and refineries for crude oil (Kölbl-Ebert 2018).
- 30.
Short for Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, i.e. the army high command.
- 31.
German Society for Petroleum Economy.
- 32.
While not incorrect as such, this is but a rather crude summary of the actual historical events. For details and context, see Kölbl-Ebert (2018) and references therein.
- 33.
Bentz was officially cleared of all charges on 29 July 1948 (letter by Alfred Bentz to his attorney, 2 August 1948, AGV #20321).
- 34.
Rudolf von Zwerger (1902–1945) studied mining in Freiberg, Berlin and Clausthal 1921–1927 and obtained his PhD in 1929 from the Technical University of Aachen. 1928–1934, he worked in the oil industry in the USA and Germany. 1934, he joined the Prussian Geological Survey (later Reichsamt für Bodenforschung) as expert for seismic exploration. In 1944, he qualified for professorship. In April 1945, he was drafted to the Volkssturm and died in the battle for Berlin (Closs 1952).
- 35.
Kölbl-Ebert (2019).
- 36.
For a biography, see Kaemmel (2013).
- 37.
Kurt Barthel (1914–1967) learned painting and decoration. In 1931, he became a member of the Socialist Workers’ Youth. In 1933, he emigrated to Czechoslovakia. In February 1934, he partook in political riots in Vienna. In 1938, he emigrated to the UK, where he worked as farmhand and construction worker. In 1946, he returned to Germany and became a writer. In 1960, he received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Rostock (Hetzer and Krüger 2008, p. 50).
- 38.
Individual Soviet specialists were sent to East Germany for two to three years to supplement missing personnel in the early years of the GDR. They had a considerable authority on proceedings (Hetzer 2004, p. 61).
- 39.
I.e. Hans Stille: The German adjectives still and leise are synonymous, meaning silent.
- 40.
In this context, a euphemism for Hakenkreuz, i.e. a swastika.
- 41.
For the role of German petroleum geologists in World War II, see Kölbl-Ebert (2018).
- 42.
Via the open border in Berlin. This leak was plugged on 13 August 1961, when the Berlin Wall was built.
- 43.
Harry Tisch (1927–1995) was a high-ranking party official of the SED (cf. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Tisch; accessed 11 Mai 2018).
- 44.
Short for Magyar–Amerikai Olajipari Rt., i.e. Hungarian–American Oil–Industry Ltd.
- 45.
Simon Papp (1886–1970) studied geosciences and mining, obtaining a doctorate degree in 1909. Papp then worked as geological prospector for several petroleum companies active in Hungary, Transylvania, Yugoslavia, Turkey, New Guinea, the United States and Germany. He also lectured at various Hungarian universities and mining schools. In 1938, Papp became head geologist and subsequently managing director of the petroleum company MAORT. In September 1944, he became professor at the Faculty of Oil Prospecting and Production at Sopron University, but continued to work for MAORT. In 1948, Papp was arrested under the suspicion of sabotage. He was released in an amnesty during the Hungarian Uprising 1956 and worked until his retirement in 1962 as geologist for the Hungarian petroleum industry (http://www.rev.hu/history_of_56/szerviz/kislex/biograf/papp_uk.htm; https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papp_Simon, both accessed 9 February 2016).
- 46.
“peinlich” here possible used in a more figurative sense, signifying the intensity and duration of the interrogation rather than implying actual torture.
- 47.
http://www.rev.hu/history_of_56/szerviz/kislex/biograf/papp_uk.htm; accessed 9 February 2016.
- 48.
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papp_Simon, accessed 9 February 2016.
- 49.
http://www.rev.hu/history_of_56/szerviz/kislex/biograf/papp_uk.htm, https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papp_Simon; both accessed 9 February 2016.
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Acknowledgements
I am indebted to the University Library of Freiburg im Breisgau and their staff members for granting me generous access to their repository. Thanks are also due to my father, Stefan Kölbl, for putting back sense into the Google translation of the Hungarian Wikipedia article.
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Kölbl-Ebert, M. (2019). From Colleague to Enemy? German Petroleum Geologists and the Cold War. In: Figueirôa, S., Good, G., Peyerl, D. (eds) History, Exploration & Exploitation of Oil and Gas. Historical Geography and Geosciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13880-6_7
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