Bad Google! Germans want their harbour back
The citizens of the port of Emden want their harbour back. A minor snafu with Google Maps makes it appear that the harbour belongs to the Netherlands, not to Germany, Sueddeutsche.de reports. The city has tried to rectify the error. Spokes person Eduard Dinkela told the paper: “Google is one of the largest communications platforms on the Internet, yet I do not seem to be able to reach them.”
Although everybody agrees that it is silly to suggest the border runs through Emden’s harbour, the actual position of the border is disputed, Radio Netherlands writes:
Historically, the exact location of the border was never properly settled between the Netherlands and Germany, although nobody has ever suggested that Emden’s harbour is actually Dutch. Germany says that the border runs through the Dollard estuary, close to and just below the Dutch dykes that line it. The Dutch claim the border runs down the middle of the estuary. The issue is theoretical rather than contentious.
We can only hope this isn’t the kind of incident that ends up deteriorating to the point it brings five Panzer divisions through the Ardennes and Nijmegen to split Allied Forces in a drive to the sea.