Germany: National Socialism and World War II

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EuroDocs > History of Germany: Primary Documents > National Socialism and World War II


Interwar Period (1918-1939)

Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945.
Tens of thousands of searchable German foreign policy communications and documents from the Weimar Republic and Third Reich.
50 volumes published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
(1918-1945; facsimile page images with downloadable PDF files)
Session Proceedings of the Reichstag from the Treaty of Versailles to the begin of World War II:
A digitization project of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
(1919-1939; German transcriptions)
NB: Protokolle des Reichstags (1867-1895) are also available.
Compilation of primary documents. Topics include: Nazi ideology and values, Nazi rise to power, Hitler, totalitarianism and political control, racial ideas, anti-Semitism and eugenics, social ideas, values and policies, work, economic policy and re-armament, and foreign policy.
From Alpha History
(1920-1941; English translations)
A report. The Dawes Plan was one way of dealing with the reparations that Germany had to pay following WWI.
(1925; English)
Original manuscripts including his total opposition to the Holocaust and his hope for a Jewish homeland
In cooperation with Shapell
(1929-1955; German and English facsimiles; photographs)
An online exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
These images reveal how the Nazi Party used modern techniques and carefully crafted messages to sway millions with its vision for a new Germany.
(1929-1945; print and multimedia searchable by year, format or theme)
The League of German Girls, female branch of the Hitler Youth.
(1930-1945; photos & posters, translated narratives, facsimiles of documents and journals)
Documentation of the National Socialist movement and dictatorship,
Including such sections as the path to power (including the Ermächtigungsgesetz), the war,
medical experiments, persecution and the Shoah, among others.
(1930 - 1945; facsimiles and German-language transcriptions)
Part of the Online Archive of California.
(1930-1945; facsimile images)
Speech delivered by Albert Einstein in Berlin.
(August 22, 1930; German with English translation)
Hitler's verbal attack on the leadership of the Weimar Republic. Also available in original German
(July 15, 1932; English translation)
Newspaper article. "Germany is to make eventual payment by means of bonds to a total amount of £150,000,000, but not for a further three years."
(1932; English facsimile)
Hitler's inaugural address as chancellor. Available in original German. Text of Joseph Goebbels' opening remarks also available in English and German.
(February 10, 1933; English translation)
A Diary Of The Nazi Years by a Victor Klemperer, a Christian of Jewish descent in Germany.
(1933-1941; English facsimile)
The German Propaganda Archive includes both propaganda itself and material produced for the guidance of propagandists. The goal is to help people understand the two great totalitarian systems of the twentieth century by giving them access to the primary material.
(1933-1989; English; facsimiles)
German History in Documents and Images: Nazi Germany (1933-1945)
compiled by the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C.
(1933-1945; images, maps, German transcriptions and English translations)
Documents of National Socialism from the University of Würzburg.
(1933-1945; German transcriptions)
Click on "P" within a given chronology for primary source documents.
(German transcriptions with German and English translations)
Documents from the Nazi period
(1933-1945; German transcriptions)
Texts including pronouncements, speeches and orders of Adolf Hitler, Walter von Reichenau and others
(1933-1945; German transcriptions and translations)
A Hamburg pastor's memoirs of the "Third Reich."
(1933-1945; German transcriptions)
Including posters, speeches, etc.
Digitized by Calvin College as a part of the German Propaganda Archive.
(1933-1945; Facsimiles, translations and transcriptions)
Hundreds of documents: diplomatic correspondence, reports, memos, interviews, etc.
(1933-1945; English and German facsimiles)
Postage stamps as a form of propaganda.
(1933-1945; facsimile images)
By William L. Shirer, who "watched with increasing fascination and horror [this Europe] plunge madly down the road to Armageddon."
(1934-1941)
A multivolume set of schooling and training messages for young people in Nazi Germany.
Documenting the efforts to indoctrinate children and advance propaganda before and during World War II.
Also see 1938 digital Schulungsbrief holdings of the Center for Research Libraries.
(1934-1942; German facsimile texts)
Nuremberg Laws - "Laws for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor".
(15 September 1935; facsimile of German original)
Designed for "the safeguard of German blood".
(15 September 1935; facsimile of English translation)
WWII German News Agency (Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro) internal serial. Published three or more times a day.
From UCLA digital collections.
(8 May 1936 - 25 May 1940; German facsimiles, English interface)
Regarding Concealment of Jewish Businesses
From Yad Vashem
(1936; English translation)
A collection of Jewish survivors and other eyewitnesses to the Holocaust describe watching the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In preparation for the start of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Nazis in power decided to minimize the presence of anti-Semitism in the city.
From the USC Shoa Foundation
(1936; English film)
Witness the infamous Hindenberg disaster with this original archive footage of the Nazi airship, as it flew what would be its final voyage on Thursday, May 6, 1937. Check out the impressive shots of its flight over the landing ground of Lakehurst, New Jersey before it ultimately caught fire and came crashing to the ground.
(1937; video; English)
”Noel Monks was a correspondent covering the civil war in Spain for the "London Daily Express." He was the first reporter to arrive on the scene after the bombing.”
EyeWitness to History
(1937; English transcription, photographs)
(March-September 1938; English transcriptions and translations of documents, maps, statistics and commentary)
Agreement concluded at Munich between Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy.
(29 September 1938; English translation)
Papers relative to the events and negotiations which preceded the opening of hostilities
  between Germany on the one hand, and Poland, Great Britain and France on the other hand.
Electronic version by permission of the French Government.
(1938-1939; English translations)
German troops enter Austria
Things begin to heat up between Germany and Czechoslovakia
Benes asks the Czech people to be "firm and have faith in our state
Czechoslovakia declares martial law
Chamberlain sensing the new tension offers to travel to Germany to talk to Hitler
Ultimatum to Benes: rescind martial law
War of words between Nazi Germany's radio and the Czech Republic shortwave station
Prague refutes Hungary's rumors about events in the Sudetenland
Hodza: If Chamberlain & Hitler have agreed upon a plebiscite, it is unacceptable to his country
War seems closer than ever before
The world wondering if they would wake up to world war
Chamberlain deplores the way he was treated and the change in Hitler's earlier agreements
Germany, England, France and Italy meet in Munich to decide the fate of Czechoslovakia
An agreement is signed
Chamberlain announces the "piece of paper" that both he and Hitler signed agreeing that Hitler's desires over Europe would stop with the Sudetenland
(1938; audio)
Page containing items from the German Third Reich such as death card mourning memorials, revenue cards, and Hitler Youth memberships.
(German and English; facsimiles and photos)

World War II (1939-1945)

In 1939 and 1940, the Indian leader sent letters to Adolf Hitler, encouraging the Nazi dictator to seek peace with Great Britain.
From The Christian Science Moniter
(1939; English transcription)
From the Testimony of Benno Cohn
From Yad Vashem
(1939; English translation)
History of U-boats in WWII (Kriegsmarine)
Site includes interviews with u-boat commanders, list of WWII u-boats, list of Allied ships, planes, weapons, commanders, and more. Site also includes articles, and a gallery.
(1939-1945; English)
Database of firsthand accounts
EyeWitness to History
(1939-1946; English transcription, photographs)
Over 5000 wartime films made available, including the siege of Warsaw, Nazi propaganda, the occupation of Rome, Fritz & Fratz cartoons, etc.
See the entire searchable holdings of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum collections.
(English interface; German and other language films)
In connection with the Jewish question
From Yad Vashem
(30 January 1939; English translation)
Documentation of forced labor during the Nazi era, laws, restitution, etc.
(1939-1945; German-language transcriptions and commentary)
Sources on forced labor in the area of Hagen.
(1939-1945; facsimiles of documents and photos)
German propaganda photographs
From the New York Public Library
(1939-1942; photos)
  • Voices of the 20th Century
Audio clips of WWII
Britain's declaration of war on Germany
D-Day
Iwo Jima
Surrender of Germany
In cooperation with EyeWitness to History
(1939-1945; audio)
Memoir, first-hand account from Heinz Guderian, a Nazi Colonel-General of armored forces and actively implemented Hitler's plans for the blitzkrieg.
(1939-1945, published in 1951; Russian translation)
Non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany, including secret protocol.
(English translation, August 23, 1939)
Documents from the archives of the German Foreign Office.
(1939-1941; English translations)
A collection of documents and agreements from the Avalon Project.
(1939-1941; English translations)
As announced in the Völkischer Beobachter.
(23 May 1939; English translation)
A collection of primary documents from the Internet Modern History Sourcebook.
(1939-1945; transcriptions and translations)
British families [agreed] to “host” children from Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic through a program known as Kindertransport...An estimated 10,000 refugee children, most of them Jewish, were housed in the United Kingdom during the war.
From USC Shoah Foundation
(film)
A collection of documents related to WWII.
From the Avalon Project.
Official (mainly U.S.) government histories, source documents, and other primary references.
(1939-1945; English transcriptions and translations)
Radio address a few months before the German attack on France.
(29 January 1940; English translation)*Franco-German Armistice
(25 June 1940; English translation)
And the outbreak of hostilities between Great Britain and Germany on September 3, 1939
(1939; English facsimile)
Signed at Berlin.
(27 September 1940; English transcription)
Vyacheslav Molotov's speech to Soviet Union citizens about the Nazi Invasion of Russia.
(22 June 1941; English translation)
(3 August 1941; English translation)
Concerning the War Years in Berlin
From Yad Vashem
(1941; English translation)
A collection of documents on American policy toward Germany and Japan.
(1941-1945; English facsimile)
By Franklin D. Roosevelt, on the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
(8 December 1941; English transcription)
(11 December 1941; English translation)
  • Sermons of Clemens August Graf von Galen
We Demand Justice
Original German also available.
(July 13, 1941; English translation)
Become Hard! Remain Firm!
Original German also available.
(July 20, 1941; English translation)
PDF. The War Years.
(1941)
The Murder of Unproductive Persons
Original German also available.
(August 3, 1941; English translation)
The top secret minutes of the meeting held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to find a "final solution" to the "Jewish Question."
(January 20, 1942; German transcription)
Library and Archives Canada holds three newsreels produced by the Nazi Regime that depict the raid at Dieppe. Presented here are two of these newsreels, one that was shown in Germany and one that was distributed in occupied Holland.
(1942; film with German or Dutch narration and English transcription)
  • Memoirs of Allied Prisoners of War:
Stalag Luft I Online
Remembrances and artifacts from the POW camp in Barth, Germany -- plus commentaries.
(1942-1945; transcriptions and facsimiles of memoirs, documents, images, etc.)
Speech of Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels. Available in original German.
(February 18, 1943; English translation)
(31 July 1941; English translation)
(English translation; 5 October 1942)
(English translation; 4 October 1943)
Encyclopaedia Britannica's guide to the Normandy invasion of 1944.
(1943-1944; transcriptions, audio, video, images, commentaries)
From the Testimony of Jan Burke
From Yad Vashem
(English translation)
Documents of the Eisenhower Library.
(scroll down the page).
(1943-1944; facsimiles & photos)
Background documents on Germany, 1944-1959, and a chronology of political developments affecting Berlin, 1945-1956.
(1944-1959; facsimile; English)
Daily battle communiques from Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Europe (SHAEF).
Searchable database with full-text facsimiles.
(6 June 1944 - 8 May 1945; text-searchable facsimiles)
Photographic collection of documents relating to D-Day.
(1944; images and French-language descriptions)
Telegrams reporting the efforts of the movement.
(1944-1945; Russian facsimiles)
On June 6, 1944, allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to fight Nazi Germany
From the Smithsonian
(1944; English; video)
  • Firsthand Accounts of the Bombing of Dresden
Recollections of a British POW in Dresden
Recollections of Götz Bergander
A child's account
Victor Klemperer's Dresden Diaries
Account by Victor Gregg, who believes it was a war crime
Archive Footage
(February 1945; English transcriptions)
Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allied Forces.
(7 May 1945; English transcription)
"Since Schindler took over management of the business, it was his exclusive goal to protect us from resettlement, which would have meant our ultimate liquidation."
(8 May 1945; English translation)
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was considered an enemy of state after he called Hitler the Verführer and became the first religious voice against Jewish persecution by Hitler.
(English translation; book facsimile)
Official instrument of armistice and surrender of Italy, Germany and Japan in World War II.
(October 4, 1945; transcription)
From the Testimony of Nehama Baruchson-Kaufman
From Yad Vashem
(1945; English translation)
From the Testimony of Zvi Katz - We got up and saw that the guards had gone
From Yad Vashem
(1945; English translation)

Postwar Period

Presented by the Library of Congress.
(1945-1949; transcriptions and summaries in print)
Four major publications covering:
the official proceedings of the trial of the main war criminals (The Blue Series),
documentary evidence and guide materials from that trial (The Red Series),
the official condensed record of the subsequent trials (The Green Series),
and a final report on all the war crimes trials held in Nuremberg, Germany.
Documents from and about the proceedings as collected in the Avalon Project.
(Transcriptions and translations)
A searchable database of transcripts digitized by Harvard Law School.
(German and English-language facsimiles, transcriptions, and translations)
In commemoration of the Doctor's Trial's fiftieth anniversary, the USHMM presents excerpts from the official trial record,with accompanying photographs.
German-language version of official documents and materials from the Nuremberg Trials.
(14 November 1945 - 1 October 1946; transcriptions)
Documents from the personal archive of General William J. Donovan, special assistant to the U.S. chief of counsel during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
A joint and ongoing project of the Cornell Law Library and the Rutgers Journal of Law & Religion.
(1945-46; facsimiles, transcriptions and commentaries)
From the Atomic Archive
(1945; English transcription)
Official agreement by the United States, France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union for the establishment of an International Military Tribunal
for the "punishment and prosecution of the major war criminals of the European axis".
(1946; transcription)
Selected and prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission in 15 volumes (1947-1949).
Although situated in a gray area between primary documentation and commentary, these volumes provide handy summaries for proceedings of the Nuremberg and Tokyo International Military Tribunals.
(1939-1945; transcriptions and commentaries)
This collection is a direct result of the work Musmanno did to lead the U.S. investigation to determine if Adolf Hitler had died. The largest part of the collection contains information gathered from personal interviews with Hitler's secretaries, his dentist, many of the top Reich generals, and other persons who knew of or about Hitler.
(1948; English facsimile)



Other Collections

  • A Day that Shook the World
Historical Footage: ”A Day That Shook the World recalls the days of the 20th century that proved to be era-defining and pivotal in the course of modern history. These are the days on which political revolutions, technological breakthroughs, and sporting triumphs took place, and whose effects were felt the world-over.”
Battle of the Somme 1916
Hitler becomes Chancellor 1933
Hitler Annexes Austria 1938
Germany Invades Poland 1939
Battle Of El Alamein Begins 1942
Fall Of Stalingrad - German Army Surrenders 1943
Landings 1944
Germans Surrender to Montgomery 1945
Berlin Airlifts Begin 1948
Construction of the Berlin Wall 1961
Coproduction of British Pathe and BBC
(20th century; English; videos)
Ecclesiastical, religious education periodicals, church music, and Synod reports.
Browse the collections by holding cursor over Bestände.
(1789-1945; German facsimiles)
Access to facsimiles of German-Jewish periodicals from the Enlightenment until the Third Reich.
Digitized by various German institutions with support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
(18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries; facsimiles and some German-language explanatory comments)
The only satirical magazine of Berlin that survived the 1848 revolution in Germany and that existed - after having converted to the liberal-conservative side - for more than 90 years.
(1848-1944; facsimiles)
Growing collection of digitized images from among the 11 million images in the Federal Archive.
Options for searching.
(19th-20th centuries; image database)
100(0) Key documents for German history in the 20th century.
Project of Osteuropäische Geschichte der Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Institut für Allgemeine Geschichte der Russischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Moskau)
(1903-1998; documents, images, audio and film recordings; German transcription)
A large collection of video eye-witness testimonies of German history, 20th century to the present.
Divided into three broad categories: Ereignisse (Events); Themen (Subjects) and Jahrhundertzeugen (centenarian witnesses).
(1910-present; video files of witness testimonies)
Collection of 76 facsimiles, documents and cards from German history, especially in the 20th century
From Universität Innsbruck
(20th century; facsimiles; German)

EuroDocs > History of Germany: Primary Documents > National Socialism and World War II


See also Shoah (Holocaust)



EuroDocs Creator: Richard Hacken, European Studies Librarian,
Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.
Feel free to get in touch: Hacken @ byu.edu