The Case Of The Atlantropa Project

Herman Sörgel (2 April 1885–25 December 1952) was an engineer and dreamer. It was in his blood, quite literally. His father was an engineer as well and head of the Bavarian Building Authority and hydro engineering in Germany. The work of Herman’s father was so renowned he was given a noble title. Young Herman followed his father’s footsteps, taking a keen interest in hydro engineering as well.

Sörgel eventually founded the most influential architecture magazine in Germany in 1925, which gave him financial freedom. After his success, Herman took a trip to America to research an article and what he saw stunned him. This young country was bursting at the seems with activity and new ideas moved so quickly. Germany and Europe in general were still recovering from the horror of World War I. Sörgel was gripped by pessimism and worried about Germany and Europe’s future — it was going to be made irrelevant by the United States and Asia. Europe was destined for starvation and war. Something had to be done to save his

Sörgel used what he knew to solve the problem — science and engineering. He formed together a few different ideas into a unified plan. He called his plan the Atlantropa Project. The plan would set up power grids across the Mediterranean. Giant dams would be put in place to partially drain the Mediterranean Sea as well of 1/5 of it’s

Due to Sörgel’s architecture magazine, he had the ability to show his idea to many of the leading German and European engineers of the day. Many of them were totally on board with the idea and Sörgel attracted the attention of the German public as well. Despite the crazy and outrageous size of the plan, it was thought to be feasible.

The Mediterranean sea naturally evaporates, with the difference being brought in from the Atlantic Ocean from the Straight of Gibraltar. The center piece of the Atlantropa project would be a dam across the Straight of Gibraltar. Once the water flow was stopped up from this region, the Mediterranean would naturally start to drain. There would also be two other dams to cut off other water flow from coming into the region. A dam between Sicily and Morocco would cut the Mediterranean into two parts. A third dam would block off the Baltic sea as well and be constructed in the Dardanelles region — the small area of water between Asia Minor and Europe that separates Turkey.

The Gibraltar Dam alone was expected to generate 49,000 Mega Watts, not including the other two dams. The energy generated would be enough to power Europe and the new land reclaimed. The land reclaimed could be used as farm land or for other beneficial activities. Europe and Africa would also be connected by a land link. Many sketches and films of the dams showed trains running along the dams. Sörgel expected the project to take 100 years or more to construct. The length of the project would ensure jobs for the foreseeable future and a cooperation between the nations of Europe.

When the Nazis came to power Sörgel, despite being a pacifist, brought the plan to them. He figured their strong belief system and ruling style would be an impetus to push his project through. The Nazis, of course, had other ideas in mind for Europe. Mainly, they desired to conquer it by force and take anything they desired from it. The Nazis rejected Sörgel’s idea and their propaganda wing even made a film slamming the Atlantropa project. After the war, Sörgel also brought the idea to the Allies, which they seemed to show interest in. However, they never moved forward with the plan.