FUTURE OF GREENLAND

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23064, 5 July 1940, Page 8

FUTURE OF GREENLAND

Aviation Possibilities

GERMAN HOPES OF CONQUEST

£>o,pn after ,German troop? entered Copenhagen the president of the United States issued a declaration which escaped ppb}ic attention, because at the time all mipds were fixed upon the military campaign ip Norway. President Roosevelt was speaking of Greenland, and he said that it was papt pf the western hemisphere, and papie under the ghfrantee? of the Rfonroe Doctrine. Like Iceland, where British troops have already Japded, Greenland is a Danish possession. Ayhy did president Roosevelt thus emphasise the interests of the United States in Greenland? The yegr 1928 was to prove a decisive year ffi the l>i?tpry of Greenland.' Ip that year a ' wgll-ipipWh American explorer and apman, named Bert “Fish” Hassell, conceived the idea of using the route via Greenland for a flight from Rockford, m Illinois, to his ancestral home ip Sweden. A glan.ce pt tfre jmp of the Arctic regions will show this is the shortest arid most ’ convenient route, provided that an landing ban be' made m .Greenland. _ • 1 HasSclkwas Informed by his experts that, except 'for its coastal fringe of mountains*, jGrrjeenland was as fiat as a pancake', and pdpseguehtly ideally suited'for lan'dipg’fields. “Fish- Hassell boweyer, missed' hi? mark, and carne down in the sea oft the south coast of''Greenland- He was picked up’ by a Danish' steamer and brought to’ Copenhagen - . There; ‘at the 'ffivMtiori of ‘the 'German Institute of GepppUtics. and ijts Gepepl Haushpfer, he visited Berlin and Munich. Wftri ftie' rapid afivapee of aviation, Gepipapy futty realised the importance of Greenland to Arctic flying. The Arctic routes considerably reduced the distance between the continents. Following lectures by Hassell iri Munich on Arctic flyipg routes, Germany decided to put his experiepces to practical use. It was not, of course, fob purely aeronautical reasons that German “exploring parties’' shortly afterwards set but' for Rejkiavik, the capital of Iceland, and' for Godthaab and'Sydprhveh. ’in Greenland. These parties consisted'not only of'aviation experts, ” pilots; teachers of flying, and gcbibglstl ' and geographers frbfri the institute. but of political agents; whose part'if was'to paye tpe way for '“peaceful "penetration” Since Hitler came to power he has always been interested 'in Iceland, either because it appeals to his romafitic fancy or because his plans from trie beginning reached thus Tar—there has bpep a mafkeri tPCrpasp ip thp number of German tpuusts ymitmg Iceland- ip the same way. HtHerg

[By WALTER TSCHUEPIK] The importance of Greenland as an air base between Europe and Apieripa apd the designs Germans have had upon this land are discussed in the following article. Majpr Quisling was reported yesterday to have announced that, in the event of a German victory over Britain, Greenland might pass under Norwegian control.

envoys have found their way to (Greenland to Fredrickshaab, Upernivik, and Sydproven. They came in trie guise of harmless professors who - were anxious to win the friendship of trie Lapps. The Icelanders were suspicious and declined all requests from trie Germans to help them build aerodromes at' pejkiavik. On Greenland, however, that vast continent of ice and snow. With its few scattered settlements, they met with little or rib opposition. The 838,000 square miles of Greenland’s surface contain only some 15,000 inhabitants. The largest settleipent, at Sydproven—larger than Gbdthaab. the "Capital”—has a population bf 900 souls.’ But, since Hitler invented his “fifth column” technique, these Spp have included some dozens pi Germans,’who, whilst pretending to be gngaged ip peacefpl trading ip sealskin p’mf rilubber, have really been promoting ‘ Hitler’s ‘ political plans. These‘plans seemed for a'long time too’ fantastic to be taken seriously, but the ’ fate ■of Deriinatk, Norway, Holland; ’and' Belgiurri has shown their grito reality. '' Ajpprlcap? Fpund At the orders pf President Rqpsi?velf, Mr Normpp Dayis, president of the’’American’ Red Cross, has recently sent ap auxiliary expedition to Greenland, which, put off prom Pepmark, cap'no ipriger pbxain the foodstuffs and other articles’ "it formerly deceived from Copenhagen in exchange for its whale oil and fursThe American delegation was much surprised to find amppg trip Qf.eenr landers men with German names, like Mueller and Moritz, and many others. Trie Pip?, epee of Herr Moritz, a pear relative pi Dr, Moritz,” ’ Qefmap economic expert at pr.esept Dr. Glpdius s deljegatiori m Bucbafpst, is evidence thauHpler has long cherished plans top worm domination which extend far bPXPrid ‘ the’ old dreams of pan-,Germanism. A glance at pur map shows the importance of Greenland in the event pf the Upited States beipg drawn into the wain This’ map gives the route followed by Bert “Fish” Hassell in 1928 and thp airway contemplated by Germany as a link with” America. This route passes over Iceland, now foitunpteiy ringer British protection. , Germari aeroplanes will ' have Some difficulty In landing there. It is typipal pf the mixture m Ger : nian policy between medieval romanticism and lust for conqp.est, that Dr. Fritz Hausleitpj, pf Hamburg Um T versity—Gerieral Haushofers pupil in gep-politics —has bestowed pp.pp the countries and islands of the north new names taken from German legend. Just as the' , Bplish Pprt pf Gdynia has becpipp IS'to be rperir ifipppd 1^ 5 ' land.” This is the pgrpe designed for it by Dr. Hausleiter, after Queen Kriemhifd, Siegfried’s wife in ths Nir belpngpp saga-