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Description

Huge Map of the Third Reich at its Peak. Meant to Be Hung on the Walls of Wehrmacht District Headquarters.

Very rare wall map of Nazi Germany from January of 1943 showing the extent of German expansion through the Alsace and Lorraine regions, Austria, all of Poland, and parts of present-day Ukraine and Belarus. This map was classified ("Nicht für die Öffentlichkeit bestimmt!") and meant to be used exclusively by senior Nazi officers at district headquarters.

The map shows the extent of Nazi districts, which are delimited in a black overprint. Headquarters are marked with a red and white flag, while subdistricts are divided using red and green. As expected for a military map of the highest importance, the map's detail is extensive, with railroad lines, roads, towns, cities, hydrography, and other features that could affect tactical decisions shown.

This classified document shows a much expanded Germany. It is interesting to note the differences in the types of territory shown. In the east, the map shows the "General Government" region. This was run as a separate administrative unit from the rest of Germany. While nominally a different entity than the rest of Germany, the purpose of the General Government was to rule the local Poles and Eastern Europeans using only German officials and to eventually colonize the area using German citizens. Also shown using unusual distinctions are Bohemia and Moravia, which have military interests that extend slightly into the Slovak client state with a "Protectorate Zone."

This truly gargantuan map represents the self-identity of Germany during the Nazi period as seen through the eyes of the Wehrmacht. It shows a nation extending over a region almost twice as large as it does today, with military forces reaching the Volga and the Neva, but only two years away from total collapse.

States

We can identify three editions of the map, from August 1940, January 1, 1942, and January 1, 1943 (the present example).

Rarity

We trace four examples of this edition (Bundesarchiv (Koblenz), British Library, Austrian National Library, and Bodleian). We trace only a single example of the 1941 and 1942 editions. No other examples are known in the US.

Condition Description
Folding map. Toned. Minor tape stains in margins, not affecting image. Some minor fold splits. Manuscript annotations in blue. Staples at center joining sheets.