Ryan and Brendan,


UC Berkeley does not own sheets of the Deutsche Grundkarte 1:5 000 (DGK 5)
map series. But I remember the series from my time at Indiana University
which has extensive holdings.

It is a map series with a complicated publishing history, just as Brendan
indicated, if we properly account for German federalism and the country's
complicated  history.


*Post 1945 sheets issued by West German states*

Deutsche Grundkarte 1:5000 sheets are also referred to as DGK 5 sheets. A
40 cm × 40 cm map depicts an area of 2 km × 2 km in nature. Depending on
the relief, contour lines are displayed at intervals of 0.5–5 m. Field
maps, other large-scale maps (measurement results, etc.) and orthophotos
are used to create a DGK. In contrast to smaller-scale topographic maps,
property boundaries are also shown. The Gauß-Krüger coordinate system is
generally used in the DGK. The leaf is cut according to straight
Gauß-Krüger coordinates. The sheet numbering results from the sheet number
of the topographic map 1: 25 000 and a running number within the map sheet
of the TK25.

*For post-1945 West German states several versions exist: *

·         Normalausgabe (DGK 5 N)

·         Grundriss (DGK 5 G)

·         Luftbildkarte (DGK 5 L)

·         Bodenkarte <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodenkarte> (DGK 5 Bo
<https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DGK_5_Bo>)



Sources:

1.       An English-language summary with a pretty good description of the
map series (as it existed after 1945) can be found in the chapter on the
Federal Republic of Germany (i.e. West Germany) in volume 1 of Rolf Böhme’s
Inventory of World topographic mapping (1989-1993), pages 21-23. Elsevier
published an online version.



*B**ö**hme’s summary for the post-1945 period*

“During the period following World War II, activity was concentrated on the
restoration and updating of the 1:25 000 series, the original documents
pertaining to which were held by the survey departments of the Lander. In
addition, the need for a large scale topographic map at 1:5000 was growing
because of the requirements of post-war reconstruction. In order to
guarantee the standardisation of mapping a co-ordinating organisation,
called the 'Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Vermessungsverwaltungen der Lӓnder der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland' (AdV), was established to make recommendations
based on the results of regular meetings. The properties and status of
mapping are somewhat different in the various Lander. For example as
Bavaria and Württemberg had well established large scale map series at
1:5000 and 1:2500 respectively, there was no need for them to prepare base
maps at 1:5000 scale (Deutsche Grundkarte 1:5000, DGK 5). This national
series is scheduled to cover the FRG, except Bavaria and Württemberg, in
about 40,000 sheets. Final editions will be fully contoured, but
preliminary, purely planimetric, sheets are widely used. To date about 50%
of the country has been depicted in a contoured form.”

In his bibliography Böhme also lists references which contain additional
information:

Apel, H. (1979).  Grossmasstӓbige topographische Kartenunterlagen issued as
Allgemeine Vermessungsnachrichten no. 4.

Institut für Photogrammetrie (1983). Funktion und Gestaltung der Deutschen
Grundkarte 1:5000 (DGK 5) issued by the Institut für Photogrammetrie und
Kartographie, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt.



Böhme also lists which German states did not produce DGK 5 sheets:

Bayern (Bavaria) produced the Höhenflurkarte 1:5 000,

Württemberg, in the state of Baden-Württemberg produced the Höhenflurkarte
1:2 500,

Hessen (Hesse) produced the Topographische Karte 1:5 000 (TK 5)

Berlin produced the Karte von Berlin 1:4 000


*East Germany*

Communist East Germany (the German Democratic Republic), a unitary state,
initially mapped at the 1:5,000 level & in 1951 even gave priority to work
done at that scale, in part to push through the collectivization of
agriculture & deal with related resource issues. But in 1954 the GDR rolled
out new specifications for a 1:10,000 topographic map series. States
reconstituted themselves on the former East German territory in 1990
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Thüringen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen).
All use the Topographische Karte 1:10 000 (TK 10) today

https://search.library.berkeley.edu/permalink/01UCS_BER/1thfj9n/alma991028412869706532



2.      A German-language Wikipedia page for the Deutsche Grundkarte map
series.  Some early sheets are shown.

A first style sheet was produced in 1925 by the Weimar Republic’s principal
civilian mapping agency, the  Reichsamt für Landesaufnahme [= Land Survey
Office], which functioned at that time as the mapping agency of the North
German states, but also had some federal responsibilities in administering
geodetic networks.

*History 1923-1945*

In 1923, the advisory board for surveying of the Reichsamt für
Landesaufnahme recommended the production of a 1:5,000 topographical base
map. In 1925, a sample sheet and drawing instructions were published by the
Reichsamt. The territory of the Weimar Republic was divided into around
144,000 map sheets. Sheet production was only carried out by the Reichsamt
when this was specifically requested & negotiated, but other surveying
agencies at lower administrative levels were also free to produce sheets
themselves. But they had to adhere to the specifications spelled out by the
instructions & style sheet. Before 1936, the official name was
Topographische Grundkarte des Deutschen Reiches 1: 5 000 [Topographical
Base Map of the German Reich 1:5,000] but the name
(Reichs-)Wirtschaftskarte [= Economic Map] was also common at this time.

In 1936, i.e. after the Nazi seizure of power, the name Deutsche Grundkarte
1:5 000 [German base map 1:5,000] was introduced.

“Grund” also can be interpreted as referencing that sheets of the map
series are based on detailed cadastral surveys and that they serve as an
inventory for cadastral information (in conjunction with the official
cadaster maintained by local registry offices). Property lines are shown on
sheets, and the management of land ownership information clearly was one
reason this map series came into existence.

Source #2 provides a list of current mapping frameworks, i.e. what are the
German states currently doing. Only 2 small states, Bremen and the
Saarland, continue to work within the DGK 5 framework.



https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Grundkarte



*3.      *Additional information about the early history of the Deutsche
Grundkarte can be gleaned from *Das Reichsamt für Landesaufnahme und seine
Kartenwerke (Berlin, *1931), see pages 66-67.  The publication reflects the
ideas of the late Weimar Republic period.


https://www.luftfahrt-bibliothek.de/datenarchiv/reichsamt-landesaufnahme-kartenwerke-messtischblatt-generalstabskarte-deutsches-reich.pdf



Pre-1945 sheets are probably fairly rare & more likely to turn up in map
collections outside Germany, because the Allies looted the civilian map
collections in Germany, with the map collection of the Reichsamt ending up
in American hands while some of the important collections of the
Hauptvermessungsabteilungen (HVA) ended up in British hands.  So digitizing
some of the historic sheets in American, British, Australian, or Canadian
libraries that were produced during the years of the Weimar Republic
(1918-1933) and Nazi regime (1933-1945) would really add value.

So, if I would start from scratch & process the sheets, as a map cataloger
I would look closely at what I have in hand. It might make sense to create
2 map series records, one for the sheets created until the end of World War
II, and then another one for the post-1945 sheets, that is if a library
holds a larger number of Reichsamt sheets published between 1928 and 1945.

Both sets are interesting. The post-1945 sheets were obviously acquired by
the military mapping agencies of NATO members, because the Cold War made
owning quality cartographic coverage for the two Germanies a priority,
because they were located right at the Iron Curtain.


--Heiko


Heiko Mühr

Map Metadata and Curatorial Specialist

Earth Sciences & Map Library

50 McCone Hall

University of California

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

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