Göring's secret maps published by historian

A German historian on Thursday published a set of top-secret maps of Nazi Germany's arms industry that were seized from Hermann Göring, the chief of Adolf Hitler's air force, at the end of World War II. The 33-map collection, entitled 'Göring's Atlas', gives an insight into the Nazis' armament strategy and details the origins of the raw materials for the industry behind the German war machine, said Werner Abelshauser, a historian from Bielefeld University. Göring had responsibility for planning the expansion of the arms industry in 1936. The maps show the sites of plants in Germany and occupied countries that produced powder, explosives and chemicals. They were reserved for the use of top officials and served as a 'symbol and badge of power' for Göring, Abelshauser said. US soldiers seized the maps at Hitler's Obersalzberg complex in the Bavarian Alps after Göring's arrest at the end of the war.