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New Swabia

Coordinates: 72°S 5°E / 72°S 5°E / -72; 5
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New Swabia
Neuschwabenland
Defunct potential Antarctic claim of Nazi Germany
Expedition logo (1938–39) of New Swabia
Expedition logo
(1938–39)

Territory comprising New Swabia shown in red
Historical eraWorld War II
19 January 1939
9 April 1940
8 May 1945
Today part of Queen Maud Land

New Swabia (Norwegian and German: Neuschwabenland) was an area of Antarctica explored, with the intention to claim it, by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1939, within the Norwegian territorial claim of Queen Maud Land. The region was named after the expedition's ship, Schwabenland, itself named after the German region of Swabia.[1][2] Although the name "New Swabia" is occasionally mentioned in historical contexts, it is not an officially recognized cartographic name in modern use. The area is now part of Queen Maud Land, governed under the Antarctic Treaty System.

Geography

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New Swabia is divided into an ice-covered northern foreland, which gradually rises from the coast and the edge of the ice shelf to over 1,000 m (Ritscher Upland and Helle Slope). To the south, it is followed by a region of nunataks rising from the ice and mountain ranges with heights over 3,000 m. These mountain ranges dam up the glaciers of the polar plateau to over 2,000 m. The high-altitude glacial regions are named after the famous polar explorers Roald Amundsen and Alfred Wegener.

The ice-free areas vary greatly in morphology. In addition to kilometers of fault scarps that run roughly parallel to the continental margin and are particularly prevalent in the west, central and east, New Swabia is dominated by mountain ranges in the north-south that follow old, preglacial valley systems. Three mighty glaciers drain this sector of East Antarctica: At 20°W, the Stancomb-Wills Glacier flows westward onto the Brunt Ice Shelf. The boundary between western and central New Swabia is marked by the Jutulstraumen Glacier, which feeds the Fimbul Ice Shelf. The 200 km wide glacier Borchgrevinkisen forms the eastern border of New Swabia.

At the eastern end of New Swabia lies the deep-sea trench Schwabenland Canyon.

Seasonally ice-free lakes

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A geographical feature of New Swabia is its ice-free freshwater lakes during the Antarctic summer. These lakes are located on the 34 km² hilly plateau, the Schirmacher Oasis (or Schirmacher Lake Plateau), at 70° 45′ S, 11° 40′ E. 118 lakes with a total area of 6,487 km² are known. Only a portion of these lakes develop on the bedrock; some lakes also lie on the ice shelf immediately north of the oasis. All lakes contain a rich algal flora, with 72 species identified. The discoverer of the Schirmacher Oasis was Richardheinrich Schirmacher, pilot of the second flying boat, the Boreas, of the expedition ship Schwabenland.

Lakes with permanent ice cover

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The Obersee and Untersee lie on the northern edge of the Gruber Mountains at 795 m and 580 m above sea level, respectively. The Obersee covers an area of 3.43 km², while the Untersee is 11.4 km², making them the largest lakes in New Swabia. They are covered in ice year-round and fill deep, carved-out trough valleys. The lakes are dammed by glaciers and have no outflow.

Climate and vegetation

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New Swabia has a highpolar climate with temperatures below freezing around the year. The low air temperatures are partially set off by strong solar radiation in the Antarctic summer (December to February). Temperatures of up to +19°C have been measured on rock surfaces, allowing simple vegetation to grow on these rocky substrates.[3] The necessary water is created by melting, drifting snow on rock surfaces exposed to the sun. In the central area of New Swabia, simple filamentous algae (Prasiola and Ulothrix) and lichens have been found alongside cyanobacteria. The species Lecidea sp., Rhizocarpon geographicum and Usnea sphacelata are particularly common. Two moss species (Grimmia lawiana and Sarconeurum glaciale) have also been found in favorable locations.

Background

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Like many other countries, Germany sent expeditions to the Antarctic region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of which were scientific. The late 19th century expeditions to the Southern Ocean, South Georgia, the Kerguelen Islands, and the Crozet Islands were astronomical, meteorological, and hydrological, mostly in close collaboration with scientific teams from other countries. As the 19th century ended, Germany began to focus on Antarctica.[citation needed]

The first German expedition to Antarctica was the Gauss expedition from 1901 to 1903. Led by Arctic veteran and geology professor Erich von Drygalski, this was the second expedition to use a hot-air balloon in Antarctica. It also found and named Kaiser Wilhelm II Land. The second German Antarctic expedition (1911–1912) was led by Wilhelm Filchner with a goal of crossing Antarctica to learn if it was one piece of land. As happened with other such early attempts, the crossing failed before it even began. The expedition discovered and named the Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf. A German whaling fleet was put to sea in 1937 and, upon its successful return in early 1938, plans for a third German Antarctic expedition were drawn up.[4]

German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939)

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The third German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939) was led by arctic veteran Alfred Ritscher (1879–1963), a captain in the German Navy. The main purpose was to find an area in Antarctica for a German whaling station, as a way to increase Germany's production of fat. Whale oil was then the most important raw material for the production of margarine and soap in Germany and the country was the second largest purchaser of Norwegian whale oil, importing some 200,000 metric tonnes annually. Besides the disadvantage of being dependent on imports, it was thought that Germany would soon be at war, which was considered to put too much strain on Germany's foreign currency reserves. In addition, there was a secret military assignment to explore the islands of Trindade and Martim Vaz for use as potential future naval bases.[5][6][7]

On 17 December 1938, the secret[7] New Swabia Expedition with 82 crew members left Hamburg for Antarctica aboard MS Schwabenland (a freighter built in 1925 and renamed in 1934 after the Swabia region in southern Germany) which could also carry and catapult aircraft. On 19 January 1939, the ship arrived at the Princess Martha Coast, in an area which had been claimed, as the expedition was already underway, by Norway as Queen Maud Land, and began charting the region. Naming the area Neu-Schwabenland after the ship, meanwhile the ship served as expedition base. Seven photographic survey flights were made by the ship's two Dornier Wal seaplanes named Passat and Boreas.[1][8] About a dozen 1.2-meter (3.9 ft)-long aluminum darts, with 30-centimeter (12 in) steel cones and three upper stabilizer wings embossed with swastikas, were supposed to be airdropped onto the ice at turning points of the flight polygons (these darts had been tested on the Pasterze glacier in Austria before the expedition).[1][8] According to expedition members, these darts were only dropped once, all together.[9] Eight more flights were made to areas of keen interest, and on these trips some of the photos were taken with colour film by the geologist Ernst Herrmann. Altogether they flew over hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and took more than 16,000 aerial photographs, some of which were published after the war by Ritscher. The ice-free Schirmacher Oasis, which now hosts the Maitri and Novolazarevskaya research stations, was spotted from the air by Richard Heinrich Schirmacher (who named it after himself) shortly before Schwabenland left the Antarctic coast on 6 February 1939.[10]

MS Schwabenland in 1938
German map of Antarctica (1941) showing Neuschwabenland

On its return trip to Germany, the expedition made oceanographic studies near Bouvet Island and Fernando de Noronha, arriving back in Hamburg on 11 April 1939. Meanwhile, the Norwegian government had learned about the expedition through the director of the NSIU, Adolf Hoel, who heard of the news by chance, from Ernst Hermann's wife.[citation needed][11][12][13] Furthermore the Norwegian government had received reports from whalers along the coast of Queen Maud Land.

Germany never advanced any territorial claims to the region.[14]

Geographic features mapped by the expedition

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Because the area was first explored by a German expedition, the name Neuschwabenland (New Swabia) is still used for the region on some maps, as are many of the German names given to its geographic features.[15] Some geographic features mapped by the expedition were not named until the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition (NBSAE) (1949–1952), led by John Schjelderup Giæver. Others were not named until they were remapped from aerial photographs taken by the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition (1958–1959).[16]

The exact location of objects in italics could not yet be determined because the position was given too imprecisely in the expedition report due to navigation problems with the aircraft, and most of the aerial photographs that would have allowed identification were lost during World War II. The names of objects that could be clearly located were used in the Norwegian translation of the topographical map Dronning Maud Land 1:250,000 published by the Norwegian Polar Institute in 1966.

Name Name on the Norwegian Map Position
(Location in the "Bundesanzeiger") 		Named after / Note
Humboldt Mountains Humboldtfjella 71° 24′–72° S, 11°–12° E Alexander von Humboldt
Humboldt Graben Humboldtsøkket Near the eastern border of the Humboldt Mountains Alexander von Humboldt
The Altar Altaret 71° 36′ S, 11° 18′ E distinctive mountain shape
Amelang Plateau Ladfjella 74° S, 6° 12′–6° 30′ W Herbert Amelang, First Officer of Schwabenland
Am Überlauf (At the Overflow) Grautrenna Easterly to the Eckhörner Peaks glaciated pass
Barkley Mountains Barkleyfjella 72° 48′ S, 1° 30′–0° 48′ E Erich Barkley (1912–1944), biologist
Bastion Bastionen 71° 18′ S, 13° 36′ E prominent buttress-type mountain
Bludau Mountains Hallgrenskarvet and Heksegryta Part of a 150 km mountain range 72° 42′ S, 3° 30′ W and 74° S, 5° W Josef Bludau (1889–1967), ship's surgeon
Mount Bolle 72° 18′ S, 6° 30′ E Herbert Bolle, Deutsche Lufthansa, foreman of the aircraft assemblers
Boreas Nunatak Boreas Dornier Wal D-AGAT Boreas expedition aircraft
Mount Brandt 72° 13′ S, 1° 0′ E Emil Brandt (* 1900), sailor, saved an expedition member from drowning
Bruns Nunataks 72° 05′ S, 1° 0′ E Herbert Bruns (* 1908), electrical engineer of the expedition ship
Buddenbrock Range 71° 42′ S, 6° E Friedrich Freiherr von Buddenbrock, operations manager of Atlantic Flights at Deutsche Lufthansa
Bundermann Range Grytøyrfjellet 71° 48′–72° S, 3° 24′ E Max Bundermann (* 1904), aerial photographer
Conrad Mountains Conradfjella 71° 42′–72° 18′ S, 10° 30′ E Fritz Conrad
Mount Dallmann Dallmannfjellet 71° 42′–72° S, closely west 11° E Eduard Dallmann
Drygalski Mountains Drygalskifjella 71° 6′–71° 48′ S, 7° 6′–9° 30′ E[17] Erich von Drygalski
Eckhörner Peaks Hjørnehorna North end of the Humboldt Mountains distinctively shaped mountain
Filchner Mountains Filchnerfjella 71° 6′–71° 48′ S, 7° 6′–9° 30′ E[17] Wilhelm Filchner
Gablenz Range 72°–72° 18′ S, 5° E Carl August von Gablenz
Gburek Peaks Gburektoppane 72° 42′ S, 0° 48′–1° 10′ W Leo Gburek (1910–1941), geophysicist
Gessner Peak Gessnertind 71° 54′ S, 6° 54′ E Wilhelm Gessner (1890–1945), director of Hansa Luftbild
Gneiskopf Peak Gneisskolten 71° 54′ S, 12° 12′ E prominent peak
Gockel Ridge Vorrkulten 73° 12′ S, 0° 12′ W Wilhelm Gockel, meteorologist of the expedition
Graue Hörner (Grey Horns) Gråhorna southern corner of the Petermann Ranges
Gruber-Berge (in northern Mühlig-Hofmann Mountains) Slokstallen und Petrellfjellet 72° S, 4° E Erich Gruber (1912–1940), radio operator of D-AGAT Boreas; not to be confused with Gruber Mountains
Habermehl Peak Habermehltoppen west of the Gessner Peak Richard Habermehl, head of the Reich Weather Service
Mount Hädrich 71° 57′ S, 6° 12′ E Willy Hädrich, authorized officer of Deutsche Lufthansa, responsible for the accounts of the expedition
Mount Hedden 72° 8′ S, 1° 10′ E Karl Hedden, sailor, saved an expedition member from drowning
Herrmann Mountains 73° S, 0°–1° E Ernst Herrmann, geologist of the expedition
Schüssel Cirque Grautfatet in the northern Humboldt Mountains glaciated valley
Muller Crest Müllerkammen Johannes Müller († 1941), participant in the 2nd German South Polar Expedition in 1911/12, head of the Nautical Department of North German Lloyd
Kaye Crest Langfloget 72° 30′ S, 4° 48′ E Georg Kaye, naval architect, looked after the ships of Lufthansa
Kleinschmidt Peak Enden Part of a 150 km long ridge between 72°42′ S, 3°30′ W and 74° S, 5° W Ernst Kleinschmidt, German Maritime Observatory
Kottas Mountains Milorgfjella 74° 6′–74° 18′ S, 8° 12′–9° W Alfred Kottas, Captain of Schwabenland
Kraul Mountains Vestfjella Otto Kraul, ice pilot
Mount Krüger Kvitskarvet 73° 6′ S, 1° 18′ E Walter Krüger, meteorologist of the expedition
Kubus Kubus 72° 24′ S, 7° 30′ E distinctive mountain shape
Kurze Mountains Kurzefjella 72° 6′–72° 30′ S, 9° 30′–10° E Friedrich Kurze, Vice-Admiral, head of the Nautical Department of the Naval High Command
Lange-Plateau 71° 58′ S, 0° 25′ E Heinz Lange (1908–1943), meteorological assistant
Loesener Plateau Skorvetangen, Hamarskorvene and Kvithamaren 72° S, 4° 18′ E Kurt Loesener, airplane mechanic of D-AGAT Boreas
Lose Mountain Lausflæet distinctive mountain shape
Luz Range 72°–72° 18′ S, 5° 30′ E Martin Luz, commercial director of German Lufthansa
Mayr Ridge Jutulsessen 72°–72° 18′ S, 3° 24′ E Rudolf Mayr, Pilot of D-ALOX Passat aircraft
Matterhorn Ulvetanna highest peak in the Drygalski Mountains distinctive mountain shape
Mount Mentzel Mentzelfjellet 71° 18′ S, 13° 42′ E Rudolf Mentzel
Mühlig-Hofmann Mountains Mühlig-Hofmannfjella 71° 48′–72° 36′ S, 3° E Albert Mühlig-Hofmann
Neumayer Cliffs Neumayerskarvet Georg von Neumayer
New Swabia Expedition ship Schwabenland
Nordwestliche Insel Mountains Nordvestøya North end of the Humboldt Mountains island-like nunatak group
Eastern Hochfeld Austre Høgskeidet between the southern and central sections of the Petermann Range Ice tongue
Lake Ober-See Øvresjøen 71° 12′ S, 13° 42′ E frozen lake
Passat Nunatak Passat Donier Wal D-ALOX Passat aircraft
Paulsen Mountains Brattskarvet, Vendeholten und Vendehø 72° 24′ S, 1° 30′ E Karl-Heinz Paulsen, oceanographer of the expedition
Payer Mountains Payerfjella 72° 0′ S, 14° 42′ E Julius von Payer
Penck Glacier Pencksøkket Albrecht Penck
Petermann Ranges Petermannkjeda Between the Humboldt Mountains and the central Wohlthat Mountains [=Gruber Mountains] on 71°18′–72°9′ S August Petermann
Preuschoff Range Hochlinfjellet 72° 18′–72° 30′ S, 4° 30′ E Franz Preuschoff, airplane mechanic of D-ALOX Passat
Regula Range Regulakjeda Herbert Regula (1910–1980), First Meteorologist of the expedition
Ritscher Peak Ritschertind 71° 24′ S, 13° 24′ E Alfred Ritscher
Ritscher Upland Ritscherflya Alfred Ritscher
Mount Röbke Isbrynet Karl-Heinz Röbke (* 1909), Second Officer of Schwabenland
Mount Ruhnke Festninga 72° 30′ S, 4° E Herbert Ruhnke (1904–1944), radio operator on D-ALOX Passat
Sauter Mountain bar Terningskarvet 72° 36′ S, 3° 18′ E Siegfried Sauter, aerial photographer
Schirmacher Ponds[18] Schirmacher Oasis 70° 40′ S, 11° 40′ E Richardheinrich Schirmacher, pilot of D-AGAT Boreas
Schneider-Riegel 73° 42′ S, 3° 18′ W Hans Schneider, head of the Sea-Flight Department of the German Maritime Observatory and Professor of Meteorology
Schubertpeak Høgfonna und Ovbratten Part of a 150 km long ridge between 72°42′ S, 3°30′ W und 74° S, 5° W Otto von Schubert, head of the Nautical Department of the German Maritime Observatory
Schulz Heights Lagfjella 73° 42′ S, 7° 36′ W Robert Schulz, Second Engineer of Schwabenland
Mount Schicht Sjiktberga 71° 24′ S, 13° 12′ E
Schwarze Hörner (Black horns) Svarthorna southern corner of the northern part of the Petermann Ranges distinctive mountain range
Mount Seekopf Sjøhausen 71° 12′ S, 13° 48′ E distinctive mountain
Seilkopf Peaks Nälegga Part of a 150 km long ridge between 72°42′ S, 3°30′ W and° S, 5° W Heinrich Seilkopf, head of the Sea-Flight Department of the German Maritime Observatory and Professor of Meteorology
Sphinxkopf Peak Sfinksskolten On the north end of the Petermann Ranges distinctive mountain
Spieß Peak Huldreslottet Part of a 150 km long ridge between 72°42′ S, 3°30′ W and 74° S, 5° W Admiral Fritz Spieß, commander of the research vessel Meteor
Stein Nunataks Straumsnutane Willy Stein, boatswain of Schwabenland
Todt Ridge Todtskota 71° 18′ S, 14° 18′ E Herbert Todt, assistant to the expedition leader
Uhligpeak Uhligberga Part of a 150 km long ridge between 72°42′ S, 3°30′ W and 74° S, 5° W Karl Uhlig, First Engineer of Schwabenland
Lake Untersee Nedresjøen 71° 18′ S, 13° 30′ E frozen lake
Vorposten Peak Forposten 71° 24′ S, 15° 48′ E remote nunatak
Western Hochfeld Vestre Høgskeidet glaciated plain
Weyprecht Mountains Weyprechtfjella 72° 0′ S, 13° 30′ E Carl Weyprecht
Wegener Inland Ice Wegenerisen Alfred Wegener
Witte Peaks Marsteinen, Valken, Krylen und Knotten Dietrich Witte, engine attendant of Schwabenland
Wohlthat Mountain Range Wohlthatmassivet Helmuth Wohlthat
Mount Zimmermann Zimmermannfjellet 71° 18′ S, 13° 24′ E Carl Zimmermann, vice-president of the German Research Foundation
Mount Zuckerhut Sukkertoppen 71° 24′ S, 13° 30′ E distinctive mountain shape
Zwiesel Mountain Zwieselhøgda at the southern end of the Petermann Ranges

Aftermath

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Germany made no formal territorial claims to New Swabia.[19] No whaling station or other lasting bases were built there by Germany, and no permanent presence was established until the Georg von Neumayer Station, a research facility, was opened in 1981. Germany's current Neumayer Station III is also located in the region.

Although New Swabia is occasionally mentioned in historical contexts, it is not an officially recognized cartographic designation today. The region is part of Queen Maud Land, administered by Norway as a dependent territory under the Antarctic Treaty System, and overseen by the Polar Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice and the Police.[20]

Conspiracy theories

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Neuschwabenland has been the subject of conspiracy theories for decades, some of them related to Nazi UFO claims. Most assert that, in the wake of the German expedition of 1938–39, a huge military base was built there. After the war, high-ranking Nazis, scientists, and elite military units are claimed to have survived there. The US and UK have supposedly been trying to conquer the area for decades, and to have used nuclear weapons in this effort. Proponents claim the base is sustained by hot springs providing energy and warmth.[21]

The WDR radio play Neuschwabenland-Symphonie from 2012 takes up the conspiracy theories.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c McGonigal, David, Antarctica, frances lincoln ltd, 2009, ISBN 0-7112-2980-5, 978-0-7112-2980-8, p. 367
  2. ^ Widerøe, Turi (2008). "Annekteringen av Dronning Maud Land". Norsk Polarhistorie (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  3. ^ Yoshihide Ohta, ed. (1993), Nature environment map Gjelsvikfjella and western Mühlig-Hofmannfjella, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica (1:100.000. 1 Karte auf 2 Blatt), Temakart, 24, Tromsø: Norsk Polarinstitutt, ISSN 0801-8588
  4. ^ Luke Fater (6 November 2019). "Hitler's Secret Antarctic Expedition for Whales". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  5. ^ Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine: November 21, 1938, B.No. 2215/38 g. Kds. BH W V; Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig, Ritscher estate, File Bh1, Abt. OKM.
  6. ^ Eric Niiler. "Hitler Sent a Secret Expedition to Antarctica in a Hunt for Margarine Fat". A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Hitler's Antarctic base: the myth and the reality" Archived 13 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, by Colin Summerhayes and Peter Beeching, Polar Record, Volume 43 Issue 1, pp. 1–21. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  8. ^ a b Boudewijn Büch. Eenzaam, Eilanden 2 ('Lonely, Islands 2'), Holland 1994
  9. ^ Lüdecke, Cornelia. Germans in Antarctica. p. 320. ISBN 978-3-030-40926-5.
  10. ^ William James Mills (2003). Exploring Polar Frontiers: M-Z. ABC-CLIO. pp. 552–. ISBN 978-1-57607-422-0.
  11. ^ Lüdecke, Cornelia. Germans in Antarctica. Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021. p. 312. ISBN 978-3-030-40926-5.
  12. ^ Barr. Norway. p. 170.
  13. ^ Winther, Jan-Gunnar (2008). Norway in the Antarctic—from Conquest to Modern Science. Oslo. pp. 44–59.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ Jacek Machowski (1977). The Status of Antarctica in the Light of International Law. Office of Polar Programs and the National Science Foundation.
  15. ^ e.g., National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition, 2005
  16. ^ USGS GNIS
  17. ^ a b Angabe für Drygalski- und Filchnerberge
  18. ^ Renamed to Schirmacher Oasis, after Antarctic Oasis was defined as an independent object type
  19. ^ Heinz Schön, Mythos Neu-Schwabenland. Für Hitler am Südpol, Selent: Bonus, 2004, p. 106, ISBN 978-3935962056, OCLC 907129665
  20. ^ "Queen Maud Land". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  21. ^ Holm Hümmler: Neuschwabenland – Verschwörung, Mythos oder Ammenmärchen? In: Skeptiker. Nr. 3, 2013, S. 100–106.
  22. ^ "ARD-Hörspieldatenbank". hoerspiele.dra.de. Retrieved 19 December 2021.

Literature

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  • Murphy, D.T. (2002). German exploration of the polar world. A history, 1870–1940 Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803232051, OCLC 48084187
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72°S 5°E / 72°S 5°E / -72; 5

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