ABSTRACT
The chauvinistic excesses of 'German Geology' were the ugly peak of a more prevalent, prejudiced and unreflected-upon local patriotism. This attitude became possible due to the general political and social factors that were responsible for detaching German geological research from the international scientific community - the post-World War I depression and subsequent propaganda and political framework of Nazi Germany. This chauvinism consequently also separated 'German Geology' from foreign geologists' methods, surfacing not only in specific verbal attacks against foreign colleagues, but also in an unfocused disinterest concerning foreign research. Chauvinism in the broad sense of the word even stood guard to defend the Earth's status as a geologically closed system. The influence of chauvinism or local patriotism becomes even clearer when we ask ourselves what would have happened if the conditions had been otherwise.
