Ideological Changes in Ethnic Atlas Mapping of East Central Europe During the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Ethnic mapping after World War I underwent changes which are not only reflected by a shift of perspective, but eventually also by ideological alterations which strongly affected contested territories, e.g. the new border regions between Germany and Poland. All German and international map depictions prior to World War I display a homogeneous view which is consistent throughout. After 1919 a multitude of new states in Eastern Europe led to many new borders as well as minority areas. Earlier factual mapping was now put in the throes of the political zeitgeist. At first this produced deviations which swerved a neutral viewpoint but which still relied on a factual basis, but later on contained more and more ideologically distorted falsifications, the legitimacy of which primarily during the national socialist period was clearly based on political objectives or even wishful thinking.

Although these changes in German cartography occurred sporadically during World War I, they were not commonplace as yet. They emerged more commonly after the Great War, spread throughout most of the cartographic trade during the later 1920s, and became ubiquitous around 1930. It is clear that this development was indubitably no Nazi creation; after 1933 it merely increased rapidly and left a clear impact upon international cartography—an influence which still holds some sway upon early twenty-first century cartography.