--- Begin Forwarded Message --- Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 15:52:03 +0100 From: Jan Smits <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Tin drummer Sender: Jan Smits <[log in to unmask]> Sometimes only maps elucidate you. I've wondered why Guenther Grass made so much fuss in the Blechtrommler (Tin drummer) about the fact that Oskar's natural father Jan worked with the Polish postal service in Danzig (Gdansk) and the opening fight of the second world war in this book starts at a polish postal office. Untill you look at the 1932 map of the Polish postal jurisdiction within the German harbour of Danzig (Gdansk), which was agreed upon by the Versailles treaty of 1921. Reading the accompanying article the author is angry about the fact that the Polish state doesn't need Danzig for its postal sea service anymore as this is done from the harbour of Gdingen but keeps it in service, thereby stealing according to them appr. 1.2 million [Polish] Gulden from the Danziger [i.e. German] Postal service. Reference: Der Danziger Hafen : Hafenverwaltung und polnische Post / entworfen von N. Creutzburg. Scale 1:20,000. 1 map : colored ; 52 x 33 cm, on leave 59 x 39 cm. Accompanying the article: Die Rechtsverhaeltnisse im Danziger Hafen / von Nikolaus Creutzburg. In: Dr. A. Petermanns Mitteilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt, 78. Jahrgang, 1932, pp. 19-20 Jan Smits Map Curator Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of The Netherlands SKD: Department for Cartographical Documentation P.O. Box 90.407 2509 LK Den Haag The Netherlands tel: +31 70 3140241 fax: +31 70 3140450 E-mail: [log in to unmask] E-mail: [log in to unmask] (encoded) President Groupe des Cartothecaires de LIBER (GdC, European Map Curators Group) Chairman Working Group for Mapcuratorship, Dutch Cartographic Society (NVK) IFLA Representative for the ICA Commission on Standards for the Transfer of Spatial Data WWW-SKD: http://www.konbib.nl/kb/skd/karto-en.html WWW-GdC: http://www.konbib.nl/kb/skd/liber/intro.htm WWW-personal: http://www.konbib.nl/persons/jan-smits/homepage.htm Na matheis kai na matheis ap'tous spoudasmenous (To learn and still to learn from those who know --- End Forwarded Message ---