Contemporary German geopolitics – continuity and change

Abstract

German geopolitics is burdened with “original sin” – when in the years
1933–1945 it was used for the policy of conquests, it justified mass war crimes
committed by the Third Reich. That is why after World War II the main
assumptions of German geopolitics were discredited and discontinued. Contemporary
discussion on German geopolitics is mainly based on the consequences
of the central location of Germany in Europe. Elements of geopolitics
can be found in the role of Germany as an intermediary between Russia
and the West, special treatment of Russia and solving the migration crisis. It
revealed new divisions between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, which
refer to the old visions of geopolitical interests of national states.