Here's what we know about Atlantropa, the mega-project designed by the German architect Herman Sörgel in the 1920s, which later attracted the attention of Adolf Hitler and wanted to be realized.
Arguments of the project
- The amount of water that the rivers pouring into the Mediterranean brings to the Mediterranean in a year is less than the water that evaporates from the Mediterranean in a year. therefore it is possible to discharge it when the Mediterranean's connection to the ocean is severed.
- Europe's total surface area constitutes 2 percent of the world's surface area. 7 percent of the total land area. Europe needs more land to develop healthily.
- Industrialization and the energy it needs are increasing every year. There is no natural resource in Europe to meet this energy need. It is necessary to create this resource. (Nuclear energy was not yet discovered at that time. Even Saudi oil. Energy is mostly derived from coal.
- The African continent is quite inefficient with its current climate and human resources. There is a need for change in both human resources and climate of these lands.
- The existence of such a large project, in which all Europe will work together and use its resources jointly, will be the greatest guarantee of peace so that there will be no new war at the end of the war. Since nations will spend their material and human power for the realization of this project for many years, economic and social accumulation that will lead to a new war will not occur.
- The nation that owns this project will have an irresistible power compared to other countries in the world. this asymmetrical power will be the guarantee of world peace and justice.
What to do ?
When Sorel first introduced this project in 1926 with these arguments, it was not taken seriously by the German government at that time. because the project was very, very big in scope. What to do:
- To the Strait of Gibraltar (between Spain and Morocco)
- To the Dardanelles Strait (Çanakkale Boğazı)
- To build three large dams between Tunisia and Sicily.
Hitler
This project, in which one-fifth of the Mediterranean would be emptied, was removed from the shelf in 1933 when Hitler came to power. Hitler himself was greatly impressed by the scale of this plan and the advantages it could bring to the homeland. this plan was seen as a grand ideal to be realized after their victories in the second world war to expand the "aryan empire" and generate more wealth in general.
Based on Hitler's plans to invade Europe and his vision of winning the Second World War, the plan was very likely to be made with all the resources available from the enemy nations. acquiring these resources was not very difficult as the enemy nations would dominate.
When the dams were finished, the water level in the western part of the Mediterranean would be 200 meters compared to today, and in the region to the east of the dam between Sicily and Tunisia, the water level would be 300 meters lower than today. The currents necessary to maintain these level differences would largely meet the energy needs of Europe and Africa, which would eventually become an extension of Europe. moreover, new transportation and trade routes would be obtained with the land border to be formed between Sicily and Tunisia. lowering the water level of the Mediterranean by the dam would create a total of 660,200 km2 of new land within Europe. this area is larger than the area of France.
In the Atlantropa project, the next step after the reclamation of the Mediterranean was the reclamation of the African continent. For this, two dams were to be built along the Congo River. Thanks to these dams, the Chad and Congo seas would be created. These seas would have had a moderate effect on the African climate, making it more pleasant for European settlers. With the channels to be opened between the seas and the new Mediterranean, strong commercial connections would be established up to the interior of Africa.
In keeping with the colonial and racist attitudes of the time, Sörgel's ideas were based on envisioning Africa, with its resources and territory, entirely at European disposal, and as a vast space within which the interlocked nations of post-war Europe would rapidly expand.
Project shelved
This crazy plan was shelved again after Germany lost in World War II. But Sorel did not give up. raised this issue in the United Nations. but did not receive the necessary support. because the world after World War II was not like the world before.
Moreover, nuclear energy had now been discovered. Since the Chernobyl disaster had not happened yet, there was great optimism for this energy. It was believed that nuclear energy would provide unlimited energy to human beings. even nuclear power would make electricity so cheap that it would make measuring electricity consumption pointless.
After Herman Sörgel died in 1952, the project was orphaned. What remained from that project were the possible maps of that period and the dystopian dreams of how peoples' ecology would become an insignificant detail in the face of national ambitions and will to power in a national socialist world.