-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        RE: Captured Nazi maps
Date:   Thu, 7 Jan 2010 10:12:25 -0600
From:   Hadden, Robert L AGC <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo & GIS Forum <[log in to unmask]>
CC:     <[log in to unmask]>
References:     <[log in to unmask]>




        Thanks for mentioning my "Earth Science History" journal article on
captured German maps, available online for $10.00 at:
http://hess.metapress.com/content/y1vq1168q51g1542/?p=0a69ea4b51f746de92de180
4decd0d46&pi=0, or available otherwise for free at:
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA496551
        I also did another similar article, which explains more about the
library depository program after the war, in a recent article for WAML. See:
R. Lee Hadden. 2008. "The Heringen Collection" Information Bulletin. Western
Association of Map Libraries (WAML). Volume 40 (1), November 2008. ISSN:
0049-7282. Pages 15-24.
        This article explains how the Library of Congress and the Army Map
Service created a distribution system to college and public libraries for
many of the maps captured from the German army at the end of World War II.
Many of these maps were originally stolen by the German armies as they
advanced through Europe, and were taken from college, public libraries, as
well as from businesses and individuals. Anything that could be used
immediately was used, and other items for planning, or even for the
re-printing of new maps on the backs of older map sheets, were sent back to
Berlin.
        Those belonging to the Wehrgeologenstellen (Military Geology Unit) of
the German army were taken to a small town named Heringen, in central
Germany, and deposited in the Wintershall potash and salt mine there. They
were discovered by the advancing American forces before the end of the war.
        Unlike stolen art or gold by individual soldiers, which really is
booty, this theft was done by policy of the military (often by the special
unit, "Einsatzstab Reichleiter Rosenberg" or "ERR"). These items were
considered tools of war or weapons of war, similar to a rifle or cannon or
tank that was surrendered by the armed forces of the Third Reich. They were
dispersed throughout the country after the war, in part, to make sure they
would never be gathered back together and repatriated to Germany.
        A number of western public libraries and universities, such as
University of Arizona Library, Tucson, AZ; University of Arkansas Library,
Fayetteville, AK; University of California Library, Berkley, CA; Claremont
College Library, Claremont, CA; Hoover Library, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA; San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA; California Academy of
Science Library, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Library, Boulder,
CO; University of Hawaii Library, Honolulu, HI; Department of Geology,
Carleton College, Northfield, MN; Department of Geography, University of
Oklahoma, Norman, OK; Oklahoma State Library, Oklahoma City, OK; Oregon State
College Library, Corvallis, OR; Fondren Library, Southern Methodist
University, Dallas, TX; State College of Washington Library, Pullman, WA and
many others, benefited from the distribution of these captured maps by the
Army Map Service, US Army Corps of Engineers.
        War! Theft! Salt mines! Slave labor! Libraries! Burning cities!
Buried treasure! What a story is inside your peaceful library map collection!
        BTW, I'm currently writing an article about the maps captured from
the Iraqi army during the first Gulf war. Pulled out from a burning enemy
tank, some of these items still have the bloody fingerprints and mudstains
from combat still on them. Brave men died to preserve these maps, and other
brave men killed to get them.

Lee Hadden

R. Lee Hadden
Geospatial Information Library (Map Library))
U. S. Army Geospatial Center
ATTN: CEERD-TO-I (Hadden)
7701 Telegraph Road
Alexandria, VA 22315-3864
(703) 428-9206
[log in to unmask]

"Curiosity is not a nice virtue- and it never leads to innocence." -Donna
Haraway

See some of my writings, both online and on paper, at my author page at:
http://www.librarything.com/author/haddenrobertlee

-----Original Message-----
> Subject: captured Nazi maps
> Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 10:47:33 -0700
> From: Christopher Thiry <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> We have a few maps that were WWII booty--"captured" maps that have the
> original Nazi stamps on them.
>
> Is there an article/website about the captured maps?
>
> thanks in advance,
>
> Christopher J.J. Thiry
> Map Librarian
> Colorado School of Mines
> 1400 Illinois
> Golden, CO 80401
> p. 303-273-3697
> f. 303-273-3199
> [log in to unmask] http://library.mines.edu/

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