Geography in Germany

Abstract

A brief history of geographical associations in Germany 1The current organisational structure of German geographical associations is the result of the not always conflict-free development of representation of interests. 2The oldest association is the Association of German Geography Teachers, which was founded in 1912.Its early years were characterised by considerable advertising and publicity and numerous discussions on the status of geography in schools, and of curricula suited to the various school types.These debates were dominated by different groups (Brogiato, 1998, pp.337-347).When the association argued for an upgrading of political geography at the outbreak of the First World War and called for a politicised geography, departing from contemporary positivist scientific ideals, it found itself in opposition to university geography.Hitherto largely inactive in associations, university geographers now found themselves confronted with the strongly represented school geographers, who vigorously demanded that university geography research adapt to the needs of geography in schools (Brogiato, 1998, p. 375-386) and confidently assumed dominance within the discipline in matters of policy.The foundation of the University Association of German Professors of Geography in June 1925 was therefore born of the necessity to deflect the demands made by the school geographers.In the years up to the Nazi seizure of power, the University Association of German Professors of Geography initiated its own debate on the role of geography in schools, in an attempt to challenge the position of the school geographers, but developed into a more general platform for determining positions on methodology and the content of research.In 1934, both associations were brought into line by the Nazis, offering practically no resistance, and in the 1930s they became a platform for the Nazi ideologization of geography (Schelhaas, 1997 ;Schelhaas/Hönsch, 2001).The attempts made from 1941 on to unite all German geographers under the umbrella organisation of a German Geographical Society were Geography in Germany

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