Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 February 18

= February 18 =

Yemens
Why were the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen known as "North" and "South" Yemen, rather than "West" and "East" respectively? I see from the North Yemen article that people used "North" with it because the other state was legally the "People's Republic of Southern Yemen". However, I'm not clear why it was Southern, rather than Eastern. Was Aden (indeed at the southern tip of Yemen) really that significant, that the whole rest of the country could be forgotten about? Nyttend (talk) 01:41, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Under British rule, the "south" was known as the Aden Protectorate, but I'm not sure to what degree Yemenis themselves saw things that way. Much of the area of South Yemen which is geographically north of Sana'a (the capital of North Yemen) is actually barren desert... AnonMoos (talk) 02:32, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * It may help to think of the modern country of Yemen as being composed of three parts... North Yemen (the area around San'a), South Yemen (the area around Aden), and Hadhramaut (the eastern half of the modern country). During the colonial era, North Yemen (San'a) went back and forth between being either independent or under Ottoman Rule. Meanwhile, South Yemen (Aden) was taken over by the British... who (slightly later) also took over Hadhramaut.  Aden and Hadhramut were administered as (mostly separate) protectorates under British rule. With decolonization, Hadhramaut and South Yemen (Aden) were joined together, and eventually formed the PDRY. In short... the nomenclature split of dividing Yemen into "north" and "south" goes back to the days before Hadhramut was considered part of Yemen. Blueboar (talk) 11:58, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Before the British protectorates were established, it is unclear how much of the present territory would have been thought of as Yemeni. While there was a distinct region of Yemen, centred on Sana'a and ruled by Shia imams, there were also many Sunni areas with their own rulers, often having stronger ties to Muscat and the Gulf sultanates than to the imams of Yemen. Britain, during the decolonisation process, sought to bring the various areas together as the Federation of South Arabia. After independence, neither of the two states used the north/south concept: they were known as the Yemen Arab Republic - until 1962 the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen - and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. Wymspen (talk) 12:11, 18 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Blueboar and Wymspen, thank you. I didn't realise that the Hadhramaut hadn't always (or hadn't for centuries) always been thought of as part of Yemen.  I'm familiar with the stamps of Qu'aiti, but as they're typically inscribed Aden [line break] Qu'aiti State in Hadhramaut (example), I figured that it was an example of the once common practice of issuing separate stamps for different regions of a colony (cf. Postage stamps and postal history of Mozambique, which had several different postal jurisdictions until c. 1920), and didn't realise that the area was conceived of as fundamentally distinct from Yemen.  Nyttend (talk) 12:04, 19 February 2018 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure that the word "South" ( جنوبي ) was never used, having worked on File:Coat of arms of South Yemen (1967-1970).svg... -- AnonMoos (talk) 13:23, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * South Yemen is the common English name for the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (Arabic: جمهورية اليمن الديمقراطية الشعبية‎ Jumhūrīyat al-Yaman ad-Dīmuqrāṭīyah ash-Sha‘bīyah). Presumably western interest in the country was focused on Aden, which actually is in the south of the country. Alansplodge (talk) 15:04, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * If the word "south" wasn't used for a few years in the late 1960s, then the previously-linked image has big problems... AnonMoos (talk) 22:41, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * This map from 1909 is instructive here. What we later called "South Yemen" was labeled as "Aden" on this map, and what we later called "North Yemen" is simply labeled "Yemen" on this map; you'll also note the inland borders in the area are rather sloppy and indeterminate; which is probably indicative of what was actually happening on the ground.  You'll also note that there's a much clearer north/south distinction here.  As borders changed or became clarified, the north/south relationship became obscured, but the continuities of the states involved led to the odd naming, whereby "North Yemen" was actually west and slightly south of the bulk of "South Yemen".  -- Jayron 32 12:09, 19 February 2018 (UTC)


 * It is occasionally remarked that North Parade in north Oxford is actually south of South Parade.  More examples are at Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 April 4. 86.169.57.217 (talk) 13:54, 19 February 2018 (UTC)

Translation: German to English
Hi, Can somebody translate this please:

Ein dazu von dem Hessischen Generalstaatsanwalt Fritz Bauer in Frankfurt begonnenes Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Globke[29] wurde im Mai 1961 nach Intervention des Kanzlers Konrad Adenauer an die Staatsanwaltschaft Bonn abgegeben und dort mangels hinreichenden Tatverdachts eingestellt

Thanks. It is proving difficult at the automated store, perhaps due to use of male and female verbs. scope_creep (talk) 14:11, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * "Criminal proceedings initiated against Globke in this matter by the chief public prosecutor of the state of Hesse, Fritz Bauer, were transferred to the public prosecutor's office in Bonn in May 1961 after an intervention by chancellor Konrad Adenauer, where they were closed for lack of evidence." Fut.Perf. ☼ 14:22, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

Thanks.Fut.Perf., scope_creep (talk) 14:27, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

, the word order may have been challenging for the computer program. German verbs do not show any differences of gender. Moonraker (talk) 18:40, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * I think that should be "Fritz Bauer in Frankfurt". 2A02:C7D:503F:6300:12B:9432:CA92:6CCA (talk) 00:16, 19 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Better "initiated in Frankfurt". PiusImpavidus (talk) 09:13, 19 February 2018 (UTC)

Military district (Germany)
Hello. I've been dealing with this article for quite a while now, and, unfortunately, I was unable to find any relevant sources for the information provided here. Chiefly, I was wondering whether the supposed German terminology used here (especially the terms Wehrersatzbezirk Hauptquartier, Bereich Hauptsitze and Unterregion Hauptsitze) is really correct. To stick to these examples: one would usually make use of a hyphen here (in German). Could anybody look into this issue?--Boczi (talk) 17:25, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * A Google search for each of those terms only brings up English language websites and no books or anything in German, which seems suspicious. Alansplodge (talk) 23:36, 18 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you for commenting! What would you recommend doing in this case? Shall I take it to WP:Cleanup or similar?--Boczi (talk) 20:55, 20 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Boczi, try a note at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history - if they don't know, nobody does. I should have thought of that earlier. Alansplodge (talk) 08:37, 22 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Now done. Alansplodge (talk) 12:40, 23 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Here from MILHIST. The German term used (at least prior to the end of WWII) for recruiting was Wehrersatzbezirk, which roughly translates as "military reinforcement district". The Wehrersatzbezirk were the administrative divisions used to recruit, conscript, administrate, and train men in the Wehrmacht. For example, after the Anschluss, Austria was divided into two Wehrersatzbezirk from which all Austrian troops were raised and organized, such as the 3rd Mountain Division. The generic term for a "military district" is just Wehrbezirk, which can have more meanings depending on context. I don't recall seeing the term Wehrkreis used anywhere. I also don't recall seeing Hauptquartier anywhere, I believe the correct terminology for a district HQ is Wehrersatzbezirkskommando, or Military District Command. LargelyRecyclable (talk) 22:36, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

German to English translate
Can somebody please translate this:

Als ein Gericht dann zwei unwesentliche Fehler entdeckte (einen hatte der Verlag durch Kürzung verursacht) und eine Einstweilige Verfügung verhängte, gab Bertelsmann klein bei. Der Konzern unterschrieb, auf eine Neuauflage des Buches zu verzichten. Bonn soll gedroht haben, andernfalls werde keine amtliche Stelle mehr ein Buch dieses Verlages erwerben.

Thanks. scope_creep (talk) 18:25, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

"When a court then discovered two minor mistakes (the publisher had caused one of them by abbreviation) and imposed a restraining order, Bertelsmann caved in. The company undertook to renounce a new edition of the book. Bonn is thought to have made threats, or else no official agency would have acquired a book from this publisher again." Moonraker (talk) 18:53, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Moonraker. scope_creep (talk) 18:56, 18 February 2018 (UTC)