A consideration of geography and geographical change can help us better understand the trajectories of Nazism. The Nazi movement grew from out of European and global contexts that must be geographical understood. The Nazis imagined the problems of the world and their revolution in spatial terms. And a geographic sensibility is essential to understand the practices and effects of Nazism. Professor Mathieu will discuss maps relating to such issues as the German diaspora in Europe, the demography of the Jews in Europe, the partition of Poland in the eighteenth century, the developing space of a (sort of) united Germany in the nineteenth century, the geography of the First World War and its aftermath, Nazism’s expansionism before and during the Second World War, the geographies of mass murder, and, finally, the geography of the defeat of Nazism.

“Speaking of Maps” programs are quarterly talks designed to highlight the use and value of maps in research, in teaching and learning, and in daily life. These talks are held in Western Libraries Map Collection, which is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday-Friday, in Wilson Library 170.