Alfred Bentz – Erdölgeologe in schwieriger Zeit, 1938–1947

Alfred Bentz was the leading oil geologist in Germany during the Third Reich, the World War II and thereafter. His relevant activities are treated here mainly on the base of documents in the Geologenarchiv Freiburg. In spite of his prominent position during the Nazi Regime he can obviously not be blamed for personal guilt. As a loyal civil servant he was embedded in the tragic German fate in these years.     

The changing Romanian village: The case of semlac in Arad county, Romania

Change in the village reflects the evolution of society and the conditions in the surrounding territory, including the neighbouring rural settlements and towns with which there is interaction. These considerations will determine the size and functions of a village, moving through centuries of change, often marked by violent events (invasions and wars; epidemics and natural disasters). So the search for equilibrium has often been frustrated by changing events. The paper concentrates on the upheavals associated with communism at the end of the Second World War, leading to the degradation of rural society, and the adjustments now being made in the light of the revolution of 1989. After the upheavals of the first transition years there are signs that prosperity is beginning to return to the villages as higher incomes from agriculture benefit the rural economy as a whole.     

Geographical dimensions of Slovene emigration around the world

This article shows the geographical dimensions of Slovene emigration around the world from the middle of the nineteenth century to now. During the period 1857–1871 approximately 544,000 people emigrated from Slovenia and of those, more than half left before World War I. Such a population loss places Slovenia among those European countries which suffered the greatest damage on account of emigration. The beginnings of the mass exodus to foreign countries goes back to the time when the Slovene population entered the first phase of demographic transition. Despite the natural increase in the population, the actual increase was half smaller because of emigration. In general it is possible to differentiate between emigration which took place before World War I, emigration between the two world wars, emigration after World War II until the end of the fifties and emigration since the beginning of the sixties. More than a century of mass emigration is closely connected to the territorial contraction of the Slovene ethnic space, to the abandonment of farming and the departure of the agrarian population from the Slovene littoral, Dinaric karst and Subpannonian areas.     

The Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815: some geological reflections to mark the bicentenary

The Battle of Waterloo was fought nearly 18 km south of Brussels in Belgium, between the forces of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and a coalition army of British, German, Dutch and Belgian troops led by the British Duke of Wellington, joined later in the day by a Prussian army led by Gebhard von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstatt. One of the great battles of history, it precipitated the end of some 23 years of intermittent warfare that had raged at times across much of Europe, and parts of the Mediterranean region, India, Africa and America, to initiate a period of relative peace and stability in Europe that was to last for nearly a century—until the First World War began in 1914.     

鹅喙翼龙的形态学和埋藏学

Cycnorhamphus suevicus is one of the rarest pterosaur species known from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones of southern Germany. The virtually complete holotype specimen was described by Quenstedt (1855) as Pterodactylus suevicus and rede scribed by Plieninger (1907), and a second incomplete specimen, which was destroyed during World War II,was described by Wagner (1858).     

Military uses of groundwater: a driver of innovation?

Military need has been a positive driver to the development of the modern day, and now mature, science of hydrogeology. The important synergy between geology and water supply was appreciated by military men in the mid-nineteenth century but the first real test of this learning only took place in the First World War. German, British and American geologists then mapped water resources and the potential for exploiting groundwater in Belgium and northern France. Technical innovations included deployment of rapid drilling techniques and the promotion of well screens for use in unconsolidated sediments. The mapping techniques were developed further during the Second World War when innovative remote mapping of enemy-occupied territory became an important planning tool to both Allied and German armies. Work in North Africa and other arid and semi-arid terrains promoted insight into the occurrence of groundwater in fresh-water aquifers little replenished by recharge. Mapping of hard rock basement-type environments in the islands of Jersey and Guernsey by German geologists was a concept new to the British Isles. Collectively, these varied initiatives provided part of the foundation for post-Second World War development of modern-day applied hydrogeology.     

Upper Silesia,a forgotten region in Central Europe

On the map of Europe, forming the south-western border region of Poland, is to be found the name Silesia, with in many cases its southern part emphasized — Upper Silesia. Any search for statistics as to its exact surface area and population size will be in vain. At the end of World War I, Upper Silesia found itself squeezed between two nationalistically-obsessed peoples, and economically too attractive to both to be allowed to play an idependent political role, as it had for centuries. Upper Silesia was in 1921 divided. After World War II, under the communist centralised power system, a completely colonial robber economy was pursued. Because of the coal production there is now here one of the greatest agglomeration areas in Europe, with an ageing heavy industry and a catastropihcally damaged environment.     

'Race' as a scientific and organizational construct: a critique

'Race' for many years has been a major construct of science and society. While its importance as such has not historically been particularly pronounced on a global scale, the emergence of its most forceful architects, the Anglophone countries, to pre-eminence since World War II has significantly extended its geographical range and added to its significance as an idea within commercialized culture as well as within social organization.In the present paper, 'race' is critically examined from the following angles: 1) its role in the behavioral and medical sciences; b) its historical origins and manifestations within the Anglophone countries, particularly the United States; and c) its emergence as a 'liberal' concept and operating principle since World War II. Questions of why and how 'race' arose and its continued use in science, society and culture drive both the trajectory and depth of this research. 'Race' is found to be a modern construct which arose as a consequence of colonialism and slavery, and was substantially constructed in its present form and substance by England and its off-spring societies, particularly the United States. 'Race' was not used as a term expressing a social idea until modern times, and had no basis in the primordial civilizations which greatly influenced modern Western societies (e.g., ancient Greece and Rome). Efforts undertaken by liberals – particularly in the United States – to 'humanize' the concept of 'race' since the 1960's have been largely unsuccessful. 'race' is viewed as inherently hierarchical, a fact which is evident from its historical and present role in science and society.     

Agrarian economy in Slovenia

Agrarian economy on the territory of a new European state, ie Slovenia (the NW part of former Yugoslavia) has undergone substantial transformations over the past 150 years. The changes were particularly intense after World War II when the Yugoslav Communist Party came to power in former Yugoslavia. Under its influence an extensive redistribution of property (ie expropriations) was carried out, as well as reorientation of production and a thorough social transformation. After the independent state of Slovenia was established in 1991 (Slovenia, 1992) and the capitalist system was reintroduced, the agrarian economy of this area has had to face certain far-reaching problems which are crucial for the future development of the new state.     

Recent drastic changes in Lake Biwa bio-communities, with special attention to exploitation of the littoral zone

A change for the worse in water quality in Lake Biwa has led to musty odor of tap water, freshwater red tide and other water blooms by sudden propagations of nuisance planktonic algae since 1970. Further, some endemic and commercially important species of fish and molluscs decreased drastically in the last 10–30 years. These events seemed to be closely related to drainage of many small lakes channeled to Lake Biwa as part of an agricultural policy after World War 11, and to senseless exploitation of the littoral zone in the 1970s and 1980s as a link in the Comprehensive Development Project of Lake Biwa. Simplification of its littoral zone has led to a deterioration in its ecosystem through physical destruction of spawning habitats and increase in eutrophication.     

Geography’s underworld: The military-industrial complex, mathematical modelling and the quantitative revolution

The Second World War marked an epochal change in the relation of geographers to war and the military. The military had long utilised the skills of geographers, but from World War II the relation changed at least in the United States, and the military began less drawing upon existing geographical knowledge than directing a new kind that was increasingly formal, instrumental, and model driven. With the growing importance of the computer, this trend continued even more strongly during the early Cold War period, and was further propelled by the interests of a new, collective assemblage, the military-industrial complex. A cyborg entity, the military-industrial complex enfolded diverse performances, ideas, inanimate objects, people and even academic disciplines into a larger composite, one product of which was a new regime for the production of knowledge. The purposes of the paper are to examine the process by which geography within the United Stated joined this cyborg entity, and the character of the disciplinary knowledge regime that eventuated. The argument is pursued by examining three individuals key to the new disciplinary regime: Waldo Tobler a pioneer of analytical cartography and later GIS whose first job was at RAND on a project to develop an early warning system for nuclear attack; William Garrison who spearheaded the use of economic modelling in studies of transportation that he carried out with his students at the University of Washington Seattle; and Arthur Strahler, a geologist at Columbia University, who through his links to the US Office of Naval Research, funded and directed a set of students who later entered physical geography utterly transforming it to meet the dictates of the new regime.     

The changing geography of morbidity and mortality in post-communist Poland

In general, the health of Poles improved markedly in the thirty years after the Second World War, but there was some deterioration after 1989 before improvement resumed. Only in the case of cancer is there an upward trend and so Poles are now healthier than they have been at any time in the past. However there are sharp regional variations well exemplified by the incidence of tuberculosis, where there appears to be some correlation with poorer housing and atmospheric pollution. High death rates in Lodz (consistently the highest in the country at the voivodship level between 1989 and 1996), may also be linked with environmental pollution as well as the ageing of the population. Variations between town and country are small, but Poland shows up in a poor light when compared with other European countries. These are important issues for the administration and financing of the welfare services. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

工业革命以来青藏高原与南极冰芯高分辨率甲烷记录对比研究

自工业革命以来全球大气CH4含量呈快速的增长趋势, 但达索普冰芯记录所显示的北半球中低纬度地区大气CH4增长的启动时间要晚于极地冰芯记录近100 a. 由于受北半球人类活动CH4排放、CH4在大气中的寿命及大气中CH4的传输等过程的影响, 最近150 a以来, 中低纬度大气CH4与南极大气CH4含量在不同的时段表现出不同的净积累量和增长速率, 且20世纪两次世界大战期间达索普冰芯记录明确显示出人类活动排放的减缓使大气CH4呈负增长. 对比研究认为, 到20世纪中叶人类活动的甲烷排放已达到极高值, 中低纬度大气中CH4增长率及年积累逐步趋于平稳且略有降低. 可以认定, 工业革命以来中低纬度地区大气CH4与南极大气CH4含量的变化在不同的时段在受控于人类活动影响的同时, CH4在大气中的行为和传输过程以及东亚中低纬度季风气候的影响决定了两地之间大气CH4含量变化存在显著的差异.     

Geology and the war on the Western Front, 1914–1918

The First World War started a hundred years ago this year. On 4 August 2014 the United Kingdom marked the anniversary of involvement in this war with a remembrance event at Mons, and over the next four years there will be new museums and exhibitions, services and events, conferences and colloquia world‐wide. The aim of this collective recognition of a major event in world history is to pick over the impact and effects, innovations and consequences of a war that claimed the lives of at least 16 million people and left the world with geopolitical issues that still reverberate today. One of its notable innovations was the use of geology in warfare. As is well known, compared with the open war fought against the Russians on the eastern front, the war in the west very quickly became positional, with opposing trench lines locked into a position that would dictate the war's approach. And with trench warfare, came the need to understand the geology of the land over which the men were fighting.     

Residential preferences in the city of Warsaw,Poland

Warsaw was heavily damaged during World War II. Post-War socialist reconstruction emphasized public multi-family housing. A 1987 survey revealed that about one-third of Warsaw residents lived in single-family units, though most expressed their preferences to live in single family houses free from noise pollution and in an aesthetically acceptable environment. In two areas, the CBD and the Praga North, a large proportion of residents preferred to live in existing multi-family units, though such preference was much greater among the blue collar workers than white collar.     

From multi-confessional to mono-confessional state. State–church relations in Poland following World War II

According to Madeley’s (2003) comparative framework of state–church relations in Europe, Poland is part of the historic Northeast-Southeast multi-confessional culture belt. The aim of this paper is to analyse the historic relationships between the Polish state and church in relation to this framework with special attention to the post-Second World War period and to the consequences for the Polish religious landscape. In contrast to the multi-confessionality of the historic Polish polities, after the Second World War Poland became a mono-confessional, Roman-Catholic country. Territorial changes, the resettlement of people and the annihilation of the Jewish population by the Nazis were responsible for this religious homogenisation. Consequently, the relationship between state and church was almost completely confined to the relationship with the Roman-Catholic Church. During the 45 years of communist dominance, that church became the largest public organisation independent of the state authorities and played the most important role in the struggle against the ‘atheisation’ of Polish society as a consequence of the strong support for the church by the majority of people. The post–1989 period is characterised by a liberalisation towards non-Catholic religious communities and – after an initial reluctance – a positive attitude of the Polish Roman-Catholic Church (strongly supported by the Polish Pope John Paul II) towards the Polish membership of the European Union.

Human impact on the karst of the Venetian Fore-Alps, Italy

People have been exploiting the limestone massifs of the Venetian Fore-Alps since prehistory. The fluviokarstic style of the relief and the location of springs were important controls of settlement and land use. Six principal types of exploitation are recognized and overlapped in time: (1) hunting and early farming, Paleolithic to Iron Age, with the first soil erosion; (2) general deforestation for timber, charcoal, and fuel, Roman to early modern; (3) farm enclosure and improvement, with stone clearing, medieval to modern; (4) trench warfare in World War I; (5) quarrying and specialized farming (dairy, poultry, pigs) since 1950; and (6) developmnent of modern summer and winter tourist facilities. Soil erosion effects from many centuries can still be recognized, war damage remains visible and continues to pollute aquifers, and modern pressure on the karst land and water resources is often severe.     

Emigration and emigrants from Croatia between 1880 and 1980

Croatia ranks among those parts of Europe which have taken very high part in all forms of emigration flows in almost all periods of the last few centuries. The emigration from Croatia was caused by different reasons, such as historical, political, national, religious, social and other. It started in the 16th century and has been going on more or less intensively in different historical periods up to now. The first emigrations were caused by Turkish invasion, and those from the later periods came as a result of economical, social and political circumstances in which population of Croatia lived at the time. About 500,000 people had emigrated from Croatia in the period from the end of the century up to World War I. Most of them went to the USA. World War I had made a break in the mass emigration. After the war the emigrant problem came up again, but with some essential changes which were the consequences of the war. World War II stimulated a greatwave of emigration from Croatia. Emigration occurred either voluntarily or involuntarily. For the entire period 1948–1981, statistics show that modern overseas emigration from Croatia totalled roughly 140,000 persons. Finally, we would like to emphasize that the problem of emigration was and is still actual for the Croatian nation, especially in view of the fact that emigration from Croatia did not stop and continues up to this day. As a result today two million and half Croatian immigrants and their descendants live abroad.     

Multidisciplinary investigations at Stalag Luft III allied prisoner‐of‐war camp: The site of the 1944 “great escape,” Zagan,Western Poland

Stalag Luft III, situated in Zagan, Poland (formerly eastern Germany), was the site of a World War II Allied aviator prisoner of war (POW) camp famous for repeat escape attempts—notably the mass escape of 76 POWs in March 1944, shown in the 1963 film “The Great Escape.” The site has had little attention to date because it was within restricted military training grounds until 1992. This paper reports on attempts to locate the undiscovered “Dick” escape tunnel (the “Tom” and “Harry” tunnels from the same escape attempt were discovered and destroyed by camp authorities). Geological and geophysical surveys located hut 122, which contained the “Dick” entrance shaft. Subsequent archaeological investigations included surface artifact collection and inspection of the rubble‐filled, tunnel entrance shaft. Excavations to a depth of 10 m through yellow glacio‐fluvial sand resulted in the discovery of the refilled “Dick” tunnel with intact bed‐board shoring and ventilation system. Our investigation provides valuable insights into POW escape efforts. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

One name one place? Dealing with toponyms in WWI

In the framework of the commemorations for the First World War, a research project has been carried on in order to identify, archive and disseminate the places involved by the war along the Italian front. A task of this project foresaw the analysis of the terminological component of toponyms. All the occurrences of place names has been collected, evaluated and organised in order to fulfill the task of associate univocally one place name to a set of geographic coordinates, thus creating a specific geodatabase. Lexical, formal, linguistic and dialectal variants, homonyms, exonyms and even errors, once processed, lead to an unambiguous perspective on the use of toponyms during the war and their subsequent variations over the years.