Articles | Volume 66, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-66-115-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.Albrecht Penck: Vorbereiter und Wegbereiter der NS-Lebensraumpolitik?
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.