Zeller to Speak Aug. 26

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2008

Dr. Chad Stebbins
(417) 625-9737

 

JOPLIN, MO (SNS) –Thomas Zeller, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, will speak twice on Germany on Tuesday, Aug. 26 at Missouri Southern State University.

 

• Zeller will present “Myth and Reality of the German Autobahn” at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 26 in W. Robert Corley Auditorium in Webster Hall at Missouri Southern State University.

 

Autobahn is one of the few German words that has entered the English language. Many will know that there is no speed limit on these roads and that the Nazi dictatorship sponsored their initial construction. But why is Germany the only country without a speed limit on its freeways? What exactly was the role of the Nazis?

 

How do these roads compare to others? These are some of the questions this presentation will answer.

 

• “How Green Were the Nazis?” will be presented at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 26, also in W. Robert Corley Auditorium.

 

This presentation examines why one of the most violent regimes in human history, Germany’s Nazi dictatorship, displayed concerns for natural environments. Using specific examples, the presentation will show the ideological overlap between conservation and Nazism and assess to which extent the rhetorical attention to nature translated into action.

 

Thomas Zeller is an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Munich in 1999 and has published books and articles on the history of German technology.

 

He co-edited How Green Were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich, and edited Driving Germany: The Landscape of the German Autobahn, 1930-1970.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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