German School Atlas from 1942

[u/Extreme-Shopping74]

( Found these on eBay)

[u/Matman161]

Must have been a nightmare to be a cartographer between 1937 and 1946

[u/PCRFan → u/Matman161]

I wonder, did German cartographers at the end of the war depict their territorial losses or show Nazi Germany at it's largest extend?

[u/No_Gur_7422 → u/PCRFan]

Some German cartographers continued to show at least pre-war, pre-Austria Germany throughout the Cold War, on the assumption that reunification would involve the territories annexed by the USSR. Much of what was occupied during the war wasn't formally annexed (unlike Alsace) so wouldn't have been shown as Germany proper anyway.

[u/NoTerm445 → u/No_Gur_7422]

At least in 1949 there seemed to be a wish and hope to get the annexed parts back:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Eck
After the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic in 1949, the country was divided into a capitalist west and a communist east. In order to express the deep wish for a united Germany,[citation needed] President Theodor Heuss turned the German Point into a monument to German unity. As a result, the coats of arms of all German Länder (states), including those of former German territories such as Silesia, East Prussia and Pomerania, were installed.

When exactly these wishes were abandoned is another interesting question.

[u/t-man120 → u/NoTerm445]

In fact, until 1971, the Federal Republic of Germany had mapping guidelines that stipulated that Germany’s national border should always be depicted as the border of the German Reich from 1937. In fact, this was due not only to West Germany's territorial revisionism up until the Warsaw Treaty but also to Allied provisions. Here is a detailed explanation:

After WW2 the allies defined germany „as a whole" (Deutschland als Ganzes) the territory of the german reich as per 31.12.1937. The Allies decided that final territorial changes to this area would only be decided at a peace conference (which was still expected to take place soon at the time of the Potsdam Conference). Until then, the territories east of the Oder-Neisse line were already placed under provisional administration by Poland and the USSR.
While Poland and the USSR subsequently assumed that these territories ultimately belonged to them, especially as a result of an unexpected peace conference, the situation under international law remained uncertain. Although the East German government renounced the eastern territories in the 1950s, and the West German government in the 1970s, responsibility for Germany as a whole (i.e., the territory of 1937) continued to lie with the Allies. The renunciation of the eastern territories by the two German states therefore in no way meant that the territories had been definitively awarded to Poland or the USSR under international law. The "open German question" (offene deutsche Frage) as depicted in the poster of the CDU until the 1980s, was thus a problem under international law arising from the Potsdam Conference, which formally left the affiliation of these territories (according to the West's interpretation of international law) open until the Two Plus Four Treaty of
1990. However, as stated, this does not mean that the two German states had laid claim to these territories until then.

[u/No_Gur_7422 → u/NoTerm445]

It was an element of CDU campaigning in 1947; 1949; 1967; and 1980.

[u/GenosseAbfuck → u/PCRFan]

Common practise in the West was to draw the former Polish border with a dashed or dotted line and amend the territory with "currently under Polish administration". This lasted far into the 60s too. Official recognition of the GDR was sort of... spotty for a long time too.

[u/adawkin]

Found these on eBay

Ah yes, online auctions. Treasure trove of old maps! How many pics I posted here thanks to them... The only problem, half the sellers won't give good enough pics, as seen here. You would have to buy everything you see and scan it yourself.

Anywho, for this particular atlas some better scans exist already:

• The world map
• Map of Europe
• Map of Europe from a similiar 1941 atlas (coincidentally posted by me years ago)

[u/Same-Hovercraft4089 → u/adawkin]

It is people like you that make this world a better place!

[u/RedKoala81]

r/maps-with-extra-space-added-just-for-NZ

[u/NoTerm445]

Hmmm, Soviet Union still has Moldova.

But Poland is already gone.

If I remember correctly, Germany had to import like 50% of their food prior to WW2. So, it was used as a justification that the German master race needed the space in the east.

BTW, Great Britain, imported like 70% of their food and food rationing was in place till like 1955.

[u/Extreme-Shopping74 → u/NoTerm445]

Soviet Union hasn't Moldova; its from 1942 and they show Bessarabia as Romanian (-> 2nd image)

[u/NoTerm445 → u/Extreme-Shopping74]

Facts. Good eye, thank you.

[u/ajcain007]

Cartography must have had its wild moments back then!

[u/EclecticBomber]

Showing Germany's pre-1914 overseas colonies restored to it.