Germany, the Beautiful Travel Country
- Title:
- Germany, the Beautiful Travel Country
- Alternate Title:
- Germany, the Beautiful Travel Country
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Reimer
- Other Creators:
- Reichsbahnzentrale fuer den Deutschen Reiseverkehr [German State Railway]
German Tourist Information Office
- Date:
- 1935
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1250.01
- Collection Number:
- 8548
- File Name:
- PJM_1250_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Between the Wars
Advertising & Promotion
Politics & Government
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 56 x 78 on sheet 59 x 82 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- At first glance, a typical English-language map brochure promoting tourism, in this case, travel to Germany in 1936. The map shows scores of Germans at work and play: happy, prosperous, industrious (and invariably blonde). Industry and agriculture, culture and sport abound. Berlin and the 1936 Olympic Games are prominent. The date is estimated, but likely late 1935. The brochure was issued in other languages (see, e.g., www.davidrumsey.com, #8587.000 (Italian)
#8880.003 (German)).
The text on the verso provides all the detail a tourist would need: cities, industry and commerce, art, music, theatre, science, spas, internal travel. And at the outset, it summarizes Germany's recent political history. The "national socialist movement... prepared the way for a complete reorganisation of Germany's political and national life culminating in the national uprising at the end of January, 1933. It was the national revolution that gave the German people the political and economic stability long hoped-for. The disastrous contentions of political parties were stopped, and the national socialist Government had the principle of leadership applied to all organisations of national business. Successful efforts are being made to give all classes of the people permanent employment and to restore to Germany her proper place among the nations of the world."
To be clear, the "disastrous contentions of political parties" had stopped because competing parties had been silenced. "Economic stability" and the "principle of leadership applied to all organisations of national business" had meant the banning of trade unions and imprisonment of their leaders. And in September 1935, escalating its earlier anti-semitic actions, the government had announced the Nuremberg laws, stripping Jews (and other "non-Aryans") of citizenship. That city is prominently shown on the map - with massed brownshirts marching under the Nazi flag. All of this, we now know, was a prelude to other acts intended "to restore to Germany her proper place among the nations of the world." See generally Tatlock 2001.
Interestingly, there is a version of this brochure with different language describing Germany's political history and intentions (ID #2047). In this version, most of the text quoted above is not present. It says simply that in January 1933, "the Revolution of the National Resurgence... provided the German nation with the long wished-for political and economic appeasement." There is a printer's mark on this ("appeasement") version of "P5 36 200e" and on the more muscular version above of "2 35 100 amerik." If the "35" and "36" mark the years, and if "e" stands for England, the initially more aggressive language for distribution in the U.S. was softened in a later publication for the British.
For a copy of this map used to boost American morale in 1945 ("Today, many of the German cities which are depicted upon the map are in ruins as a result of Allied bombings"), see ID #2211, Chicago Daily Tribune, "Picture Map of Germany Before the War."
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Cite As:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.