Herman Sörgel

Herman Sörgel (2 April 1885 – 25 December 1952) was a German architect. He was known for popularizing the Atlantropa project, a massive construction project which was conceived initially as a solution to Europe's economic and political problems during the early 20th century. Atlantropa included proposals for dams to be built across the Strait of Gibraltar, the Dardanelles, and between Sicily and Tunisia. The dams would provide hydroelectric power and would be managed by a newly formed independent body with the authority to discontinue energy to any country which threatened peace. Sörgel actively promoted his ideas until his death in 1952.

Early life Hans Otto Herman Sörgel was born in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany, in 1885 to Johann Hans Ritter von Sörgel and for which he was given a personal enoblement and the right to add "von" to his last name. Sörgel's mother, Cäcilie, came from a family of brewers and property holders in Neuötting. Sörgel was raised Catholic, but would later in life become non-confessional.

Education Sörgel attended the Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich, before graduating in 1904 after which he studied architecture at The Technical University in Munich from 1904 to 1908. While his PhD thesis was rejected in Munich, it was graded as "exceptional" by Fritz Schumacher at the TU Dresden. He would pass his exam to become a government architect in 1910.

Career

As an architect attached to the Bavarian Building Commission, in which the author describes the Mediterranean Sea as a "lost Mediterranean Valley" before it was flooded. But it was not until 1927 when he read the geographer Otto Jessen's book Besides creating new bodies of land, the huge amounts of hydro-electric energy to be generated would account for 50% of Europe's energy needs at the time. While Sörgel was developing the idea, he never considered seriously how other countries would react or change. For example, the Levant would have increased in area by 50%. Atlantropa did have its supporters such as Erich Mendelsohn, who not only offered to provide designs for the project but also publicly advertised the project. Emil Fahrenkamp Because of these circumstances some speculate that Sörgel was in fact murdered. Sörgel is buried at the Waldfriedhof cemetery in Munich.

Publications Some of his publications included: