New Swabia

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New Swabia (German: Neuschwabenland or Neu-Schwabenland) was a section of the continent Antarctica between 20°E and 10°W (overlapping a portion of Norway's claim zone Queen Maud Land), which was claimed by Germany between 19 January 1939 and 8 May 1945.

[edit] Early expeditions

Like many other countries, Germany sent several expeditions to the Antarctic region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of them were scientific. The expeditions in the late 19th century were astronomical, meteorological and hydrological, and took place in the Southern Ocean and on South Georgia, the Kerguelen Islands and the Crozet Islands, mostly in close collaboration with scientific teams from other countries. However, at the end of the 19th century, the Germans started to focus on Antarctica itself.

The first German Antarctic Expedition (1901-1903), led by Arctic veteran and geology professor Erich von Drygalski, was the first to use a hot-air balloon in Antarctica. It also discovered and named Kaiser Wilhelm II Land.

The second German Antarctic Expedition (1911–1912), led by Wilhelm Filchner, aimed to cross Antarctica in an attempt to determine if Antarctica was one piece of land. The crossing attempt failed before it even started but the expedition discovered and named the Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf.

A German whaling fleet had put to sea in 1937 and when it successfully returned in the spring of 1938, plans for a third German Antarctic Expedition were drawn up.

[edit] New Swabia expedition

The Schwabenland

The third German Antarctic Expedition (1938-1939) was led by Alfred Ritscher (1879-1963). The main purpose was to secure an area in Antarctica for a German whaling station, as part of a plan 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 tons annually. Besides the disadvantage of being dependent on foreign sources, especially since it was likely Germany soon would be at war, this put considerable pressure on Germany’s foreign currency assets.

The 1938–1939 expedition logo

On December 17, 1938 the New Swabia Expedition departed Hamburg for Antarctica aboard the Schwabenland, a freighter capable of carrying and catapulting aircraft. The expedition had 33 members plus the Schwabenland's crew of 24. In January 1939 the ship arrived in an area already claimed in 1938 by Norway as Dronning Maud Land and began charting the region. In the following weeks 15 flights were made by the ship’s two Dornier Wal aircraft named Passat and Boreas over an area reported to be about 600,000 square km (though others claim it was half this size). The result was more than 11,000 aerial photographs. To assert Germany’s claim to newly-named Neu-Schwabenland three German flags were placed along the coast and 13 more were air-dropped further inland. Teams also walked along the coast recording claim reservations on hills and other significant landmarks. The expedition established a temporary base and also reported the discovery by air of hot springs with vegetation in some areas of the so-called Schirmacher Oasis which now hosts Maitri station. The place was named after captain Schirmacher, who conducted the flight during which the freshwater lakes were discovered shortly before the Schwabenland's return to Germany in February 1939.

Two more expeditions were scheduled for 1939-1940 and 1940-1941. These expeditions were expected to search for suitable whaling grounds and more importantly, extend Germany’s territorial claims in the Antarctic. The second expedition would also address some military issues, probably investigating the feasibility of naval bases from which Germany could control the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean along with the Drake Passage. Both were cancelled with the outbreak of World War II.

The name Neuschwabenland (and sometimes “New Schwabenland” or New Swabia) is still used for the region on some maps, as are many of the German names given to its geographic features. Neumayer Station, Germany's current Antarctic research facility, is located in the New Swabia area.

[edit] Legal standing

Map of Antarctica showing the location and size of New Swabia as claimed by Germany from 1939 to 1945.

No country ever recognized Germany's claim. Although individuals have insisted that through a legal loophole the German Third Reich still exists judicially within the former borders of New Swabia, this is not supported by either German or international law nor by the terms of unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers signed by representatives of the German government on 8 May 1945, the date usually given for Germany's abandonment of the claim.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] New Swabia's role in alternative historical theories

An esoteric Hitlerist legend recounts that Adolf Hitler did not commit suicide in 1945, but fled to Argentina, then to an SS base under the ice in New Swabia during the early 1950s where he resumed his career as a painter. According to this account, Operation Highjump, the largest expedition mounted to the Antarctic, is claimed to have been sent to wipe out the Nazi presence.^{[citation needed]}

From 1945 to 1950 the official Russian position was that Hitler was in hiding somewhere in Argentina.^{[citation needed]} In 1950, when intelligence reports ceased to indicate that he was located there, the Soviet government changed its position to the suicide theory, which had been accepted by the Western Allies. According to some rumours, ^{[attribution needed]} the actual reason that intelligence reports of his presence in Argentina ceased was that he had left for Antarctica. An extended version of the story claims that Hitler returned to Argentina in the early 1960s, and died at a remote Patagonian estancia in 1968.^{[citation needed]}

See also: Nazi UFOs

[edit] See also

• List of Antarctica expeditions

[edit] Sources, References & External links

• 1901–03 German Antarctic Expedition Scott Polar Research Institute
• 1911–12 German Antarctic Expedition Scott Polar Research Institute
• Secret Mission to the Antarctic Abstract from research paper by Cornelia Lüdecke 2003, about the 1938–39 German Antarctic Expedition
• Former German colonies and territories
• WorldStatesmen – Antarctica
• Hintergrundinformation zum Dronning-Maud-Land / Ostantarktis Technische Universität Dresden (German)

v • d • e Antarctic territorial claims
Current	Adélie Land · Argentine Antarctica · Australian Antarctic Territory · Brazilian Antarctica · British Antarctic Territory · Antarctic Chilean Territory · Ross Dependency · Queen Maud Land · Peter I Island
Former	New Swabia

v • d • e

Former German Schutzgebiete (colonies and protectorates)

Colonies	Africa	Wituland · German East Africa (Tanganyika • Rwanda • Burundi) · German South-West Africa (Namibia) · German West Africa (Kamerun • Togoland)
	Pacific	German Samoa · German New Guinea (German Solomon Islands • German Marshall Islands) · Caroline Islands · Mariana Islands · Nauru · Palau
Concessions	China	Kiaochow (Kiautschou) · Tsingtao
Unrecognized	Antarctica	New Swabia

Coordinates: 72°00′S 5°00′E