Primary Sources

American army staffers organize stacks of captured German documents. —USHMM, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration (Photo #03549)

• Introduction »
• Nazi Germany and the Holocaust »
• Rescue Efforts »
• United States and the Holocaust »
• War Crimes Trials »
• Personal Accounts »
• Museum Web Resources »
• Additional Resources »

Introduction ↑

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum collects Holocaust-related materials in all formats, including original documents, photographs, film footage, music, and oral histories, as well as published materials such as books, periodicals, documentaries, and other resources. While selected items from the collection are available online, the vast majority of these items are only available for use onsite at the Museum.

Examples of useful primary sources for learning about the Holocaust include diaries, letters, concentration camp records, or other documents created by victims, survivors, or perpetrators before, during, or after World War II. Primary sources can also include photographs, film footage, and newspaper and magazine articles created at that time. Memoirs and oral history interviews of survivors, liberators, or other eyewitnesses are also considered primary sources, but because these documents were usually created well after the event they may be viewed with skepticism by some researchers. For research purposes, nonfiction books and encyclopedias are considered to be secondary sources because they are generally created by individuals not present at the time of an actual event, although secondary sources are usually based on primary source materials.

Copies of key primary sources related to the history of the Holocaust have been reproduced in published compilations, as appendices in secondary sources, or are available on the World Wide Web. Some publications present reproductions of original documents in their original language, while others present English translations alongside or instead of the original language.

Annotations are provided to help the user determine the item’s focus, and call numbers for the Museum’s Library are given in parentheses following each citation. Languages included in each collection are also listed after the annotation. Those unable to visit might be able to find these works in a nearby public library or acquire them through interlibrary loan. Follow the “Find in a library near you” link in each citation and enter your zip code at the Open WorldCat search screen. The results of that search indicate all libraries in your area that own that particular title. Talk to your local librarian for assistance.

Nazi Germany and the Holocaust ↑

• Ancel, Jean, editor. Documents Concerning the Fate of Romanian Jewry during the Holocaust. New York: Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1986. (DS 135 .R7 D63 1986) [Find in a library near you]
  Twelve-volume series that reproduces hundreds of original government documents, newspaper articles, letters, memoranda, and other sources related to the persecution of Romanian Jews during World War II. [German, Romanian, and English]
  
  
• Arad, Yitzhak, Israel Gutman, and Abraham Margaloit, editors. Documents on the Holocaust: Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. (D 804.19 .D63 1999) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles translations of over 200 sources documenting the destruction of Jewish communities under the Nazis. Compiles official decrees, speeches, military orders, diary excerpts, and other primary sources. Includes indexes of names, places, organizations, and individuals. [English]
  
  
• Arad, Yitzhak, Shmuel Krakowski, and Shmuel Spector, editors. The Einsatzgruppen Reports: Selections from the Dispatches of the Nazi Death Squads’ Campaign against the Jews July 1941-January 1943. New York, NY: Holocaust Library, 1989. (D 757.854 .E567 1989) [Find in a library near you]
  Provides translations of over 150 situation reports filed by members of the Einsatzgruppen, the units responsible for the deaths of over one million Jews and other victims. Includes an index. [English]
  
  
• Berenbaum, Michael, editor. Witness to the Holocaust. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997. (D 804.19 .W58 1997) [Find in a library near you]
  Documentary history of the Holocaust. Presents translated excerpts of key documents, speeches, announcements, letters, and reports, chronologically presented with commentary to provide context for each item. [English]
  
  
• Braham, Randolph L., editor. The Destruction of Hungarian Jewry: A Documentary Account. New York: Pro Arte for the World Federation of Hungarian Jews, 1963. (Reference DS 135 .H9 D57 1963) [Find in a library near you]
  Two-volume collection documenting the destruction of the Hungarian Jewish community in 1944. Volume I covers the treatment of Hungarian Jews from 1940 until the Nazi occupation and volume II covers the roundups and deportations of March-April, 1944. Presents reproductions of the original sources. Includes an analytical list of documents. [German and English]
  
  
• Crew, David F. Hitler and the Nazis: A History in Documents. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. (DD 253 .C67 2005) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of documents in translation and images covering the collapse of the Weimar Republic and Hitler’s rise to power, World War II, and the Holocaust. Includes suggestions for further research and an index.
  
  
• Friedlander, Henry, and Sybil Milton, editors. Berlin Document Center. New York: Garland, 1992. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.11) [Find in a library near you]
  Representative selection of papers from the Berlin Document Center (BDC), the largest repository of Nazi party personnel and membership records. Reproduces 486 file cards, questionnaires, letters, handwritten autobiographies, and other personnel documents from leading Nazi officials. Includes a summary description of the BDC archives, a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text, and a summary listing of the documents. Volume 11 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [German]
  
  
• Friedlander, Henry, and Sybil Milton, editors. Bundesarchiv of the Federal Republic of Germany, Koblenz and Freiburg. New York: Garland, 1993. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.20) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents over 200 letters, memoranda, organization charts, and other Nazi documents related to the persecution of Jews as well as the creation and administration of the concentration camps. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 20 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [German]
  
  
• Friedlander, Henry, and Sybil Milton, editors. Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen, Ludwigsburg. New York: Garland, 1993. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.22) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces 132 documents drawn from the holdings at the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen (Central Office for the Administration of Justice) in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Presents telegrams, decrees, and letters pertaining to the treatment of Jews and other prisoners under Nazi control. Also provides transcripts of postwar interrogations related to the prosecution of war criminals. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 22 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [German]
  
  
• Hilberg, Raul, editor. Documents of Destruction: Germany and Jewry, 1933-1945. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971. (D 810 .J4 D572 1971) [Find in a library near you]
  Compendium of translated documents outlining the history of the Holocaust, from decrees of the early days of the Third Reich through documents concerning the postwar fate of perpetrators. [English]
  
  
• Hill, Jeff. The Holocaust. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2006. (D 804.19 .H55 2006) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents translations for over 100 documents, including letters, diary excerpts, Nazi reports, and survivor testimonies, which trace the history of the Holocaust from the rise of Nazism through the liberation of the camps. Includes a chronology, glossary, bibliography, and subject index. Part of the Primary Sourcebook series. [English]
  
  
• Hochstadt, Steve. Sources of the Holocaust. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. (D 804.19 .S68 2004) [Find in a library near you]
  Collects 84 translations of original documents, including letters, postwar depositions, speeches, diary excerpts, Nazi reports, and newspaper articles, which outline the history of the Holocaust. Part of the Documents in History series. [English]
  
  
• Joods Historisch Museum. Documents of the Persecution of the Dutch Jewry 1940-1945. Amsterdam: Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep, 1979. (DS 135 .N4 J6513 1979) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces dozens of original documents tracing the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands. Drawn from the collection of the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. Includes the original Wannsee Protocol along with circulars, letters, newspaper accounts, and official Nazi documents. [German and Dutch, with English translations]
  
  
• Klamper, Elisabeth, editor. Dokumentationsarchiv des Österreichischen Widerstandes, Vienna. New York: Garland, 1991. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.19) [Find in a library near you]
  Collects 221 Holocaust-era documents drawn from the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) in Vienna on topics such as the Anschluss, the operation of Mauthausen concentration camp, euthanasia facilities in Austria, and the persecution of Jews, Roma, and other groups. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 19 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [German]
  
  
• Klarsfeld, Serge, editor. Documents Concerning the Destruction of the Jews of Grodno 1941-1944. New York: Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1985. (DS 135 .B382 H76 1985) [Find in a library near you]
  Six-volume collection of reprinted original documents concerning the destruction of the Jewish community in Grodno, Poland (now Hrodna, Belarus). Includes deportation lists, Nazi decrees and memoranda, and postwar statements by survivors. [German, Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Hebrew, and English]
  
  
• Mendelsohn, John, editor. The Holocaust: Selected Documents in Eighteen Volumes. New York: Garland, 1982. (Reference D 810 .J4 H645 1982) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces key original documents tracing the history of the Holocaust from the early 1930s, through the establishment of the ghettos and camps, to the prosecution of Nazi officials after the war. Presents translations alongside most of the original documents. [German and English]
  
  Organized in 18 volumes:
  
  • Legalizing the Holocaust: The Early Phase, 1933-1939
  • Legalizing the Holocaust: The Later Phase, 1939-1943
  • The Crystal Night Pogrom
  • Propaganda and Aryanization, 1938-1944
  • Jewish Emigration from 1933 to the Evian Conference of 1938
  • Jewish Emigration, 1938-1940: Rublee Negotiations and the Intergovernmental Committee
  • Jewish Emigration: The S.S. St. Louis Affair and Other Cases
  • Deportation of the Jews to the East: Stettin, 1940, to Hungary, 1944
  • Medical Experiments on Jewish Inmates of Concentration Camps
  • The Einsatzgruppen or Murder Commandos
  • The Wannsee Protocol and a 1944 Report on Auschwitz by the Office of Strategic Services
  • The “Final Solution” in the Extermination Camps and the Aftermath
  • The Judicial System and the Jews in Nazi Germany
  • Relief and Rescue of Jews from Nazi Oppression, 1943-1945
  • Relief in Hungary and the Failure of the Joel Brand Mission
  • Rescue to Switzerland: The Mussy and Saly Mayer Affairs
  • Punishing the Perpetrators of the Holocaust: The Brandt, Pohl, and Ohlendorf cases
  • Punishing the Perpetrators of the Holocaust: The Ohlendorf and Von Weizsaecker cases.
  
  
• Mikoletzky, Lorenz, editor. Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Vienna. New York: Garland, 1995. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.21) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles copies of 159 original documents from the Austrian State Archives in Vienna. Primarily consists of letters to and from Austrian Jews requesting assistance or leniency from Nazi officials. Includes a brief history of the archives, a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text, and a summary listing of the documents. Volume 21 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [German]
  
  
• Milton, Sybil, and Roland Klemig, editors. Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulterbesitz, Berlin. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.1) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces 894 photographs drawn from the holdings of Photo Archive of the Prussian Cultural Trust in Berlin. Presented in 18 topical chapters, including Nazi propaganda images, photos from the concentration camps, pictures from countries under German occupation, and postwar trials. Includes a summary listing of the photographs. Volume 1 of the Archives of the Holocaust series.
  
  
• Nicosia, Francis R., editor. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, 1933-1939. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.3) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents facsimiles of 109 documents detailing the activities of the Zionist movement in Europe in response to increasing persecution of European Jews in the years before World War II. Documents the disintegration of Jewish life in Nazi Germany and the efforts to escape during the period. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 3 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [German and English]
  
  
• Nicosia, Francis R., editor. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, 1939-1945. New York: Garland, 1989. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.4) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles 172 original documents drawn from the holdings of the Central Zionist Archives. Outlines the efforts of the Zionist movement to raise awareness of the murder of Jews in Nazi-dominated Europe. Organized into six sections to reflect the primary areas of concern for the Zionist movement during World War II. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 4 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English, French, and German]
  
  
• Noakes, Jeremy, and Geoffrey Pridham, editors. Nazism, 1919-1945. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1998-2001. (DD 256.5 .N385 1998) [Find in a library near you]
  Four-volume documentary history tracing the rise and fall of Nazism from the movement’s founding through World War II. Interweaves translated excerpts from hundreds of primary documents with analytical commentary. Volume 3 includes materials specifically on the Holocaust. [English]
  
  
• Sax, Benjamin C., and Dieter Kuntz. Inside Hitler’s Germany: A Documentary History of Life in the Third Reich. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1992. (DD 256.5 .S295 1992) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of key primary source documents tracing the political and social history of Nazi Germany, from the origins of National Socialism in the years after World War I through the establishment of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. Includes English translations of speeches, letters, newspaper accounts, laws, and other important documents, as well as a chronology, glossary, maps, and a bibliography for further reading.
  
  
• Stackelberg, Roderick, and Sally A. Winkle, editors. The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts. London: Routledge, 2002. (DD 256.5 .N359 2002) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles translations of 148 documents, including some never before published in English, covering the rise of Nazism through the Holocaust and the following decades. Contains diplomatic records, minutes of meetings, diary excerpts, speeches, and eyewitness accounts. Includes a listing of all documents found in the text, a chronology of German history from 1871 to 1990, and an index. [English]
  
  

Rescue Efforts ↑

• Baumel, Judith Tydor, editor. Israel State Archives, Jerusalem. New York: Garland, 1991. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.13) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces 133 original documents drawn from the Israel State Archives in Jerusalem. Presents sources related to the situation in Palestine during the war, efforts to help refugees fleeing Nazi Europe, assistance to Polish Jews during World War II, the deportation of the Greek Jewish community, and the postwar rehabilitation of Jewish displaced persons. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 13 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Draper, Paula, and Harold M. Troper, editors. National Archives of Canada, Ottawa: Canadian Jewish Congress Archives, Montreal. New York: Garland, 1991. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.15) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles facsimiles of over 200 memoranda, telegraphs, letters, and other papers documenting the efforts of the organized Jewish community in Canada regarding the persecution of European Jews, along with the Canadian government’s immigration and refugee policies before and during World War II. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 15 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Greenberg, Karen J., editor. Columbia University Library, New York: the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League to Champion Human Rights Papers, the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League Pamphlet Collection. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.6) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents documents of the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, founded in 1933, that worked to assist refugees fleeing Nazi Europe. Contains papers documenting the League’s various efforts to boycott German-made goods and to keep the United States from participating in the 1936 Olympics. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 6 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Greenberg, Karen J., editor. Columbia University Library, New York: The Varian Fry Papers; The Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter Papers. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.5) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces holdings from the Columbia University Library related to the work of Varian Fry, an American journalist who helped anti-Nazi refugees escape from France, along with papers related to the operations of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York. Presents 114 original documents, subdivided into general categories for easy use. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 5 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Helfand, Jonathan, editor. Yeshiva University, New York. New York: Garland, 1991. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.18) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces 143 documents concerning the efforts of Vaad Hatzala and of Rescue Children, Inc., two Orthodox organizations formed to assist Jewish victims of Nazi persecution. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 18 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Lebowitz, Arieh, and Gail Malmgreen, editors. Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University: The Papers of the Jewish Labor Committee. New York: Garland, 1993. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.14) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces over 300 original documents, including letters, reports, leaflets, and articles from various publications. Illustrates the inner workings of the Jewish Labor Committee in New York, including its interactions with other labor organizations and its efforts to preserve East European Jewish culture and history from destruction by the Nazis. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 14 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English and Hebrew]
  
  
• Peck, Abraham J., editor. American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati: The Papers of the World Jewish Congress, 1939-1945. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.8) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces 132 original documents related to the work of the World Jewish Congress during World War II, including rescue and rehabilitation efforts for those attempting to escape Nazi persecution. Presents wartime reports about the destruction of European Jewish communities. Provides an overview of the archives from which these documents are taken, a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 8 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Rose, Paul Lawrence, and Herbert Druks, editors. Hecht Archive, University of Haifa. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.12) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles facsimiles of 79 letters, reports, and other papers, in various languages, documenting the efforts of Dr. Reuben Hecht to raise awareness of the plight of European Jews under the Nazis as well as his work to assist refugees looking to flee Nazi Europe. Includes a brief summary of Dr. Hecht’s work, a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text, and a summary listing of the documents. Volume 12 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Sutters, Jack. American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia. New York: Garland, 1989. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.2) [Find in a library near you]
  Reproduces over four hundred original documents concerning the efforts of the Society of Friends (Quakers) to assist refugees fleeing Nazi Europe. Documents are presented chronologically in two volumes, 1932-1939 and 1940-1945. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 2 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  

United States and the Holocaust ↑

• Abzug, Robert H. America Views the Holocaust, 1933-1945: A Brief Documentary History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999. (D 804.19 .A29 1999) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents transcriptions of over 60 letters and articles that appeared in newspapers and magazines between 1933 and 1945 in order to document American press coverage of the Nazi persecution of Jews and other victim groups. Includes a chronology of events, a list of questions for further consideration, a selected bibliography, and an index. [English]
  
  
• Bogan, Frederick D., editor. American Jewish Committee, New York. New York: Garland, 1993. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.17) [Find in a library near you]
  Representative sample of the many thousands of Holocaust-era documents from the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) archives housed at the YIVO research facility and the AJC Headquarters in New York. Compiles 188 letters, reports, memoranda, and other documents describing the AJC’s work on behalf of persecuted Jews in Europe before, during, and after World War II. Includes detailed descriptions of the AJC holdings at both YIVO and the AJC Headquarters, a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text, and a summary listing of the documents. Volume 18 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Greenberg, Karen J., editor. Columbia University Library, New York: The James G. McDonald Papers. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.7) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles facsimiles of 54 letters, reports, memoranda, and meeting notes regarding the work of James G. McDonald, the League of Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees from 1933 to 1935. Presents McDonald’s letter of resignation over the treatment of European citizens looking to emigrate from Nazi Germany. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 7 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• McJimsey, George, editor. “FDR’s Protest of the Treatment of Jews in Germany, 1938.” Documentary History of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency, Volume 12. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 2001-. (E 806 .D614 2001 v.12) [Find in a library near you]
  Collects 176 original documents drawn from the Roosevelt presidential papers, the U.S. Department of State Archives, and private collections. Traces the actions of the President in response to news of the persecution of European Jews. Includes a subject index and annotated listing of the documents. [English]
  
  
• Milton, Sybil, and Frederick D. Bogin, editors. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, New York. New York: Garland, 1995. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.10) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents a representative sampling of the Holocaust-related holdings of the archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Includes facsimiles of 255 original documents including correspondence with government agencies, pamphlets, and reports, covering the committee’s efforts on behalf of Jewish refugees (including the St. Louis passengers) during World War II and displaced persons after the war. Includes a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 10 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Peck, Abraham J., editor. American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati: The Papers of the World Jewish Congress, 1945-1950: Liberation and the Saving Remnant. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.9) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles 64 original papers and reports drawn from the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati. Documents the efforts of the World Jewish Congress in the years after the war to assist displaced persons, punish war criminals, and capture documentary and eyewitness accounts of Nazi atrocities. Includes an overview of the archives from which these documents are taken, a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text along with a summary listing of the documents. Volume 9 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Wyman, David S., editor. America and the Holocaust: A Thirteen-volume Set Documenting the Editor’s Book The Abandonment of the Jews. New York: Garland, 1989-1991. (Reference D 810 .J4 W952 1988) [Find in a library near you]
  Compilation of original documentary materials used by David Wyman in writing his book The Abandonment of the Jews (New York: The New Press, 1998). Reproduces letters, newspaper articles, government documents, and other sources. [English]
  
  Organized into thirteen volumes roughly corresponding to the chapters of the book, as follows:
  
  • Confirming the News of Extermination
  • The Struggle for Rescue Action
  • The Mock Rescue Conference, Bermuda
  • Barring the Gates to America
  • American Jewish Disunity
  • Showdown in Washington: State, Treasury, and Congress
  • War Refugee Board: Basic Rescue Operations
  • War Refugee Board, Hungary
  • War Refugee Board, Special Problems
  • Token Shipment (Oswego Camp). War Refugee Board “Summary Report”
  • War Refugee Board “Weekly Reports”
  • Bombing Auschwitz and the Auschwitz Escapees’ Report
  • Responsibility for America’s Failure.
  
  

War Crimes Trials ↑

• Lankevich, George J., editor. United Nations Archives, New York: United Nations War Crimes Commission. New York: Garland, 1990. (Reference D 810 .J4 A735 1989 v.16) [Find in a library near you]
  Compilation of 70 reports, minutes, and other documents related to the work of the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) between 1945 and 1948. Includes letters and memoranda outlining the complexities of trying Nazi officials for crimes against humanity, reports from various tribunals, and the acknowledgement by Rudolf Höss that he ordered gassings at Auschwitz. Provides an overview of the work of the UNWCC, a glossary of individuals and organizations mentioned in the text, and a summary listing of the documents. Volume 16 of the Archives of the Holocaust series. [English]
  
  
• Marrus, Michael R. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, 1945-46: A Documentary History. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. (KZ 1176.5 .M365 1997) [Find in a library near you]
  Collection of translated excerpts from official documents, letters, and testimony transcripts outlining the history of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg. Contains extensive quotations from the IMT and the texts of final statements made by Nuremberg defendants. [English]
  
  
• Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945-1 October 1946. Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein, 1995. (JX 5437.3 .I58 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Commonly known as the “Blue Series,” volumes 1-22 provide the official English language text of the proceedings while volumes 25-42 reproduce the evidence presented during the trial. Subject, name, and document indexes can be found in volumes 23 and 24. NOTE: These volumes may be downloaded, in PDF format, from the Library of Congress’s Military Legal Resources Web site. [English, German, and French]
  
  

Personal Accounts ↑

• Bacharach, Zwi, editor. Last Letters from the Shoah. Jerusalem: Devora Publishers, 2004. (D 804.195 .E4413 2004) [Find in a library near you]
  Collects translations of 117 letters written by people who later died in ghettos or camps. Includes indexes of persons, places, and concepts discussed in the letters. [English]
  
  
• Boder, David. I Did Not Interview the Dead. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949. (D 804.195 .B634 1949) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents transcriptions of eight interviews Dr. Boder conducted with Holocaust survivors within two years of their liberation from the camps. Note: Transcriptions of over 70 of Dr. Boder’s interviews can be found at the Voices of the Holocaust Web site, presented by the Illinois Institute of Technology. [English]
  
  
• Geehr, Richard S, editor. Letters from the Doomed: Concentration Camp Correspondence 1940-1945. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991. (D 805 .A2 L4 1991) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents translations of over 75 letters, postcards, and other correspondence sent by prisoners in nine different Nazi concentration camps. Includes reproductions of many original handwritten pages alongside their translations. Includes an appendix listing the names of the prisoners who wrote the letters and the addressees, along with the date of each letter.
  
  
• Grynberg, Michał, editor. Words to Outlive Us: Voices from the Warsaw Ghetto. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2002. (DS 135 .P63 A15513 2002) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents translated excerpts from 29 eyewitness accounts of life in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation, drawn from the holdings of the Jewish Historical Institute. Organized thematically, with accounts of life in the ghetto, resistance efforts, deportations, hiding in the “Aryan” part of the city, and liberation. Includes capsule biographies of contributors, a glossary, and an index. [English]
  
  
• Holliday, Laurel. Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries. New York: Pocket Books, 1995. (D 804.3 .C45 1995) [Find in a library near you]
  Compiles translated excerpts of 23 diaries written by young people during the Holocaust. Includes a select bibliography of sources and other published diaries. [English]
  
  
• McElroy, Lorie Jenkins, editor. Voices of the Holocaust. Detroit, MI: UXL, 1998. (D 804.34 .V66 1998) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents translated excerpts from 34 documents, such as speeches, letters, and newspaper accounts, tracing the history of the Holocaust from antisemitic writings of the 1920s through survivor memoirs written in the 1940s. Includes a timeline, index, glossary, and capsule biographies of key figures mentioned in the text. [English]
  
  
• Niewik, Donald L., editor. Fresh Wounds: Early Narratives of Holocaust Survival. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. (D 804.195 .F74 1998) [Find in a library near you]
  Collects edited and translated transcriptions of 36 interviews with survivors of the camps and ghettos conducted shortly after the war by Dr. David Boder. Note: Transcriptions of over 70 of Dr. Boder’s interviews can be found at the Voices of the Holocaust Web site, presented by the Illinois Institute of Technology. [English]
  
  
• Zapruder, Alexandra, editor. Salvaged Pages: Young Writers’ Diaries of the Holocaust. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002. (D 804.48 .S33 2002) [Find in a library near you]
  Presents translated excerpts from 14 diaries written by children and teenagers from across Europe. Includes brief biographies for each of the diarists, an appendix listing known diaries kept by children during the Holocaust, and an index. [English]
  
  

Museum Web Resources ↑

• American Jewish Committee Archives
  Interactive Web site documenting the work of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), including efforts to assist Jewish refugees fleeing Europe during World War II. Presents timelines, recordings of AJC radio broadcasts, historic films, television programs, and oral histories. Also includes the complete text of the American Jewish Year Books published after 1899.
  
  
• The Avalon Project: The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
  A project of Yale Law School. Makes available in electronic format documents from the Nuremberg War Crimes trials. Provides full-text access to the multivolume sets of the Nuremberg trial proceedings and transcripts originally published by the International Military Tribunal. Includes translations of many important Holocaust-related documents, such as the Stroop Report, the Warsaw Protocol, and the Night and Fog Decree.
  
  
• German Propaganda Archive
  Collects reproductions and translations of propaganda materials created in Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Includes examples of antisemitic broadsides and cartoons, speeches by various Nazi leaders, and visual materials that promoted the National Socialist agenda. Created by a member of the faculty of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  
  
• Nizkor Project
  Online collection of electronic resources on the Holocaust and Holocaust denial and revisionism. Includes the reproduction of numerous primary source materials, detailed information on Nazi documents, and evidence presented at the Nuremberg Trials as a means of refuting Holocaust deniers and revisionists.
  
  
• USHMM Library Bibliography: Diaries
  Annotated bibliography featuring dozens of published diaries written before the war, in the ghettos, in hiding, and elsewhere under Nazi persecution. Includes references to secondary sources with information about Holocaust-related diaries.
  
  
• USHMM Library: Web Links for Oral History Projects
  Provides links to several Web sites with transcripts or footage of oral histories conducted with survivors or liberators of concentration camps.
  
  
• USHMM Photo Archives Online Catalog
  Provides access to approximately 15,000 of the nearly 100,000 images in the Museum’s Photo Archives.
  
  
• USHMM Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive
  Presents footage drawn from the holdings of the Film and Video Archives, including film of the liberation of concentration camps, war crimes trials, Kristallnacht, the St. Louis, and Nazi speeches and propaganda.
  
  

Additional Resources ↑

• Subject Headings
  To search library catalogs or other electronic search tools for published collections of primary sources on the Holocaust or related topics, use the following Library of Congress subject headings to retrieve the most relevant citations:
  
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Sources
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- Sources
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Poland -- Sources
  
  

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