A&M-SA Research Guides: Nazi Germany and The Holocaust Research Guide: Primary Sources

Suggested Digital Collections

USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive (ProQuest)
From the USC Shoah Foundation, this online database contains video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide from the Armenian Genocide, the Nanjing Massacre, the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Guatemalan Genocide, and the Holocaust.

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
The website provides access to thousands of digitized documents, manuscripts, photographs, artworks, films, and audio recordings relating to the rich and vibrant Jewish community in Poland before World War II. Conceived as an educational experience and a research tool, the new website has been developed to serve a broad audience of both the general public and scholars.
German History in Documents and Images
German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) is a comprehensive collection of primary source materials documenting Germany's political, social, and cultural history from 1500 to the present. It comprises original German texts, all of which are accompanied by new English translations, and a wide range of visual imagery.
Germany Under Reconstruction
The Germany Under Reconstruction digital collection provides a varied selection of publications in both English and German from the period immediately following World War II. Many are publications of the U.S. occupying forces, including reports and descriptions of efforts to introduce U.S.-style democracy to Germany. Some of the other books and documents describe conditions in a country devastated by years of war, efforts at political, economic and cultural development, and the differing perspectives coming from the U.S. and British zones and the Russian zone of occupation. At the same time, the Germans themselves and the occupying forces look back at the National Socialist period and try to come to terms with what had happened.
The Cabinet Papers, 1915-1981
The British National Archives, British Cabinet, 1915-1978 series is fully visible online and searchable (with advanced search features). Major topic areas include: "The United Kingdom and the world"; "The economy, business and resources"; and "Society and the Welfare State."
Foreign Relations of the United States
The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. The series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian and printed volumes are available from the Government Printing Office.
The Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum does outstanding work in educating and remembering the Holocaust and prevention of future genocides. Some of their collection has been digitized including personal stories.
Nazi and East German Propaganda
This valuable German Propaganda Archive is maintained by Randall Bytwerk, Calvin College.
Yale University, Avalon Project: Nuremberg Trials

Congressional Publications (ProQuest)
This database contains documents, reports, and other detailed information from both the House and the Senate dating back to 1789. Includes Congressional Record and US Serial Set Collections 1 and 2A-E, 1789-2011.

Historical Newspapers

Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
A digital newspaper archive that includes cover-to-cover full-text and full-image articles starting from the 19th century. Includes news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, advertisements, etc.
Includes: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Daily World, Austin American Statesman, The Baltimore Afro-American, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Cleveland Call and Post, Los Angeles Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, Louisville Defender, Michigan Chronicle, New York Amsterdam News, The New York Times, Norfolk Journal and Guide, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Tribune, Pittsburgh Courier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Suggested Websites-Testimonials

USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive (ProQuest)
From the USC Shoah Foundation, this online database contains video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide from the Armenian Genocide, the Nanjing Massacre, the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Guatemalan Genocide, and the Holocaust.

Holocaust Rescue and Relief: Digitized Records of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
During and after World War II, the Service Committee aided hundreds of displaced persons in Europe. They established food and clothing distribution centers, hospitals, and homes for children. They also aided hundreds of people in their efforts to leave war-torn Europe and establish new lives for themselves in the United States.
Portraits of Honor
Portraits of Honor: Our Michigan Holocaust Survivors is an interactive Holocaust educational exhibit of the Program for Holocaust Survivors and Families... Portraits of Honor is a learning tool about the lives of our Survivors through their photographs, biographies, and historical references.
Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive
Since 1981, Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, has interviewed Holocaust survivors. The University's Mardigian Library has been the repository of these interviews. It has been our privilege to provide a forum for those voices, "listening ears," as one survivor notes, and the facilities to record the testimonies.
Voices of the Holocaust
In 1946, Dr. David P. Boder, a psychology professor from Chicago's Illinois Institute of Technology, traveled to Europe to record the stories of Holocaust survivors in their own words. Over a period of three months, he visited refugee camps in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, carrying a wire recorder and 200 spools of steel wire, upon which he was able to record over 90 hours of first-hand testimony. These recordings represent the earliest known oral histories of the Holocaust, which are available through this online archive.
Voices of the Holocaust (British Library)
Voices of the Holocaust consists of oral history testimonies gathered from Jewish men and women who came to live in Britain during or after WWII. These testimonies are personal, individual, true stories, that describe the hardships of life during Hitler's reign.
Witness to the Holocaust
The Fred Roberts Crawford Witness to the Holocaust Project Files,1978-1983 provide a significant contribution to Holocaust research. The Project documented the liberation of concentration camps in Europe at the end of World War II.

Finding Primary Source Books in our Catalog

Books are for the most part considered secondary sources, but they can sometimes be considered a primary source.

Examples of primary books could include autobiographies, diaries or books that compile primary source materials. To find these books, include the following keywords into the search box, or in the subject field when using the advanced search option:

sources,
personal narratives,
diaries or journals,
interviews ,or
correspondence

For example, I could enter the subject heading Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Sources into the Library Catalog search box to find books that contain primary documents that relate to the Holocaust.

** To find additional primary sources, look at the citations and bibliography in the books you have already found to see what primary sources the authors used.