Articles | Volume 66, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-66-115-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-66-115-2018
Research article
 | 
10 Jan 2018
Research article |  | 10 Jan 2018

Albrecht Penck: Vorbereiter und Wegbereiter der NS-Lebensraumpolitik?

Hans Dietrich Schultz

Abstract. Albrecht Penck was one of the eminent representatives of Quaternary research in the first half of the twentieth century. But apart from this, there was a political-geographical side to Penck, which, since 1945, has long been ignored or downplayed by geographers. Today, given his concept of Volks- und Kulturboden, he is considered as having ushered in German geography the völkisch (ethno-nationalistic) turn. Thus, critics say, he paved the way for Nazi Lebensraum policies and became an accomplice in the resulting crimes. The present contribution examines Penck's political-geographical worldview and reaches an ambivalent conclusion regarding the accusations.