Fantasies of Mitte: Mittellage and mitteleuropa in German geographical discussion in the 19th and 20th centuries

Abstract

Lately, German intellectuals have once again begun making reference to geographical constants. This is by no means innocuous, for the key terms in this discussion—Germany's Mittellage (central position) and Mitteleuropa (Central Europe)—are lodged in historical memory as representatives of Germany's striving for power and hegemony, a goal of German foreign policy since Wilhelminian imperialism until as late as 1945. A look at the history of geography shows that this reference to geographical constants is impermissible. Mittellage and Mitteleuropa, also, were not employed in a politically neutral manner. Using the Mittellage concept, Germany was given a special role in Europe which, in accordance with historical circumstances, could assume a defensive or offensive aspect. Mitteleuropa was originally a broad tract of land extending from the French Atlantic coast to the Black Sea or Ural Mountains, separating Nonhern and Southern Europe. With the founding of the German Reich (1871), the Mitteleuropa concept, too, became a political character. Consequently, the German striving for hegemony acquired the aspect of scientifically founded necessity. After 1945, instead of critical approach to the misuse of Mittellage and Mitteleuropa, geographers lamented that once again Germany had become a victim of its Mittellage.