Analysing Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s ‘Secret Nazi Map’ of South America

In my previous article covering the so-called ‘Secret Map’ of South America that was used as a key part of the argument for American intervention into the Second World War by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his famous ‘Navy Day’ speech of 27^th October 1941; I covered the dubious history of his document and how it was the brainchild of British intelligence – specifically ‘British Security Coordination’ (BSC) – that was conceived by Ivar Bryce and William Stephenson but forged by a jewish agent of BSC named Eric Maschwitz in 1940/1941. (1)

This hasn’t stopped various German-hating cranks and/or jews trying to justify the ‘genuineness’ of the ‘Secret Map’ by advancing various ‘analyses’ to try and authenticate it.

In this article I’d like to address the best of those ‘analyses’ which was offered by the University of Richmond’s ‘Mappenstance’ blog in 2014.

Although first let’s remind ourselves what the ‘Secret Map’ looks like:

‘Mappenstance’ begins by writing:

‘Have we ever wondered what WWII would have been like if South America was involved? This map was created sometime in the late 1930s or the early 1940s and depicts a Nazi plan to invade South America. The cartographers, however, were likely not German and the map is probably a British forgery. Nonetheless, this map was still played a pivotal part in World War II and was an influential resource for the Americans. Right away my attention was caught with the new names and larger regions on South America and the lines going around and through the country. There is also a German phrase on the bottom right portion of the map is translated to say “Air transport network of the United States of South America main lines” which telling the audience that this map had an aerial purpose. Given the context of the time period and the complexity of the map, I think America should have been alarmed about the preparedness of a potential German invasion.’ (2)

‘Mappenstance’ is right here in the sense that the map is a British forgery and it did play a significant role – although I would dispute their claim that it was ‘pivotal’ – in that it was an ‘influential resource’ for jewish and/or pro-Soviet partisans for American entry into the Second World War.

They are also right that the German title of the ‘Secret Map’ does say something approximate to ‘Air transport network of the United States of South America main lines’ in German. However, what ‘Mappenstance’ singularly fails to note is the mistake Maschwitz made when drafting the ‘Secret Map’ in the use of the ‘Geheim’ (‘Secret’) in the top left.

The Germans did indeed have ‘Geheim’ on their classified documents, but it isn’t displayed this way but rather is a stamp (usually in red ink) with ‘Geheim!’ (note the exclamation mark) and a box around it.

For example, you can see the true ‘Geheim!’ stamp used by the Third Reich in the below which is the ‘Sonderfahndungsliste G.B.’ (‘Special Search List Great Britain’) from 1940 so from the exact same time period as the ‘Secret Map’:

Also notice the clever touch of the nigh-incomprehensible handwriting as if the German consular officials were ‘making notes’ but which is conveniently illegible to anyone but those studying it at very close quarters and even then – as we have previously – the OSS and FDR both appear to have known it was a fake. (3)

‘Mappenstance’ continues by claiming that:

‘Hitler’s viewpoints were outlandish and absurd, so his depiction of South America during World War II shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. However people during this time really thought Hitler could take over the world, and given the likelihood that this map is a British forgery only further tells us that this plan was realistic idea in the eyes of many. The cartographers consolidated the thirteen countries of South America into five different regions: Neuspanien, Guyana, Chile, Argentinien, and Brasilien. This plan was similar to Hitler’s plan of taking over Europe. Separating countries into larger regions would have made it easier for a Nazi invasion.

The Neuspanien (New Spain) region is not named after a South American country like the other regions which tells us that this region is different from the rest. The cartographers may have done this because Hitler recognized Spain’s region not as one they wanted to take over. The Nazi’s viewed Spain as a loose ally in the war, and the aerial routes into and coming out of Neuspanien would support that premise. The Neuspanien region also has an important geographical location in context to the war because it is below the United States and positioned in between them and Europe. However this map makes invading and taking over a country look easy. The map assumes that all the aerial routes are open and that the Nazi’s can easily take over these places. Hitler perceived the world to be catered to his wishes, meaning that he thought invasion and takeover were just going to happen if they made a plan an executed. Too many important events in the world had occurred for a man and his army to just shape the world as they wished.’ (4)

‘Mappenstance’ is here constructing a complete strawman as ‘Hitler’s viewpoints’ were most decidedly not ‘outlandish and absurd’ but rather extremely rational but based on a strident but realistic German nationalism as well as a desire to make Germany great. The idea that because the ‘Secret Map’ names one prospective territory ‘Neuspanien’ is some how ‘evidence’ for the ‘Secret Map’s’ authenticity is simply stupid, because ‘Neuspanien’ (‘New Spain’) would actually be the old Spanish Empire’s name for the territory concerned from 1521 onwards and is not evidence that the ‘Secret Map’ was authentic at all but rather reveals the ‘Secret Map’s’ origins in a British intelligence black propaganda operation.

This is because the old Spanish imperial territory of ‘New Spain’ includes all of Mexico and parts of what is the territory of the United States today which would thus imply that there was ‘another map’ for north America as well as Latin America. Now conveniently despite allegedly seizing the German consular official’s attaché case after the all too convenient ‘traffic accident’ in October 1941 in downtown Buenos Aires; the British agent concerned only managed to produce one map not all the rest of them that it is implied he found. (5)

In other words: the ‘Secret Map’ is clever not for what it contains nor the ridiculous alleged ‘story of its discovery’ but rather because it beautifully plays to anti-German propaganda in the United States without being too obvious and rather implying what it wants to convey, which is no doubt why Roosevelt felt he could use it even though he knew it was probably fake.

‘Mappenstance’ continues with another ridiculous claim in favour of the authenticity of the ‘Secret Map’ when they write that:

‘The aerial routes illustrate that Hitler and his government have a plan of attack in South America and they show the German influence and power in the world. This was a time where air travel was advancing rapidly and the geographic imagination of many people were being displayed. The routes show how the German’s and their allies will be able to travel and transport supplies in South America. The Germans would be able to move easily within the country, making them ready to fight and expand their empire. The map has many routes going along the coast of each region, with only a few routes that travel horizontally through the continent. This tells us that the Germans could move within South America but that they would try to avoid conflict by traveling on the coast of the continent. Those routes would also make it easier to travel to different continents like North America and Europe.’ (6)

Now here ‘Mappenstance’ has removed itself into the realms of sheer insanity in that the ‘Secret Map’ purports to be a future airline route map – remember that this was published in the immediate years after civilian air travel had become a thing in the post First World War world and which by the 1930s and 1940s was becoming increasingly popular (remember the 1935 Agatha Christie novel ‘Death in the Clouds’) – not a map of military airfields nor ‘military air routes’ let alone a ‘military invasion map’.

You simply cannot have a civilian airline route map as a ‘military invasion map’ it simply makes absolutely no sense!

After all are a modern ‘flight route maps’ just ‘military invasion maps’?

Clearly not but that is what ‘Mappenstance’ is necessarily claiming.

Now from the foregoing discussion we can see that even laying aside the fact that we know the ‘Secret Map’ is a forgery created by an anti-Nazi jew for British intelligence in 1940/1941; we can see that the ‘Secret Map’ itself shows signs of the clever forgery that it is and also makes little sense in how Roosevelt used it as a ‘casus belli’ against the Third Reich unless – as was actually the case – Roosevelt was actively trying to provoke a war with the Axis powers against the will of the American people.

References

(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/the-jewish-origin-of-franklin-delano

(2) https://blog.richmond.edu/livesofmaps/2014/11/12/map-of-the-week-hitlers-map-of-south-america/

(3) Cf. John Bratzel, Leslie Rout Jr., 1985, ‘FDR and the ‘Secret Map’’, The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 167-173; https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1174437/WW2-news-hitler-map-nazi-propaganda-roosevelt

(4) https://blog.richmond.edu/livesofmaps/2014/11/12/map-of-the-week-hitlers-map-of-south-america/

(5) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2673298/amp/Hitlers-amazing-map-turned-America-against-Nazis-A-leading-novelists-brilliant-account-British-spies-US-staged-coup-helped-drag-Roosevelt-war.html

(6) https://blog.richmond.edu/livesofmaps/2014/11/12/map-of-the-week-hitlers-map-of-south-america/