Research Guides: GRMN 150 / HIST 150 Responses to the Holocaust/Memoirs of WWII in Germany: Special Collections Resources

Special Collections Research Center

The Special Collections Research Center has a variety of materials in its Manuscript, University Archives and Rare Books sections that relate to German history and culture pertaining to World War II, the Holocaust and its aftermath. Some of the collections deal broadly with the U.S. experience during and after the war, and a few selected items illustrate a German perspective. A selection of those materials has been pulled for display during the class visitation.

The exhibit From the 'Burg to Berlin and Beyond: World War II at Swem Library was on display in the Nancy Marshall Gallery and the Special Collections Research Center in Swem Library through September 14, 2008. The audio recording of an exhibit tour by the exhibit's curator Dr. Beatriz Hardy, Marian and Alan McLeod Director of the Special Collections Research Center, is available.

Swem Library has created other guides that will be of interest to researchers including a Research Paper Writing and Citation Guide, Primary Sources Guide, and Copyright Guide.

If you get stuck along the way, please don't hesitate to contact us. We're here to help. Just click the HELP tab at the top of any page in this guide to get contact information for Special Collections Research Center staff.

Best of luck with your research!

Primary Resources from the Rare Book Collection

Miethe, A. D. Buchenwald. [S.l.]:Buchenwald National Memorial D805 .G3B82

Great Britain. Parliament., Stanhope, J. R. S. Buchenwald Camp: The report of a Parliamentary delegation. DD253 .G66

Paper war : Nazi propaganda in one battle, on a single day,Cassino, Italy, May 11, 1944

Shirer, William L. Berlin diary : the journal of a foreign correspondent, 1934-1941. D811.5 .S5 1987

Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955 : U.S. Zone). Office of Military Government : A year of Potsdam : the German economy since the surrender HC286.5 .A85 1945

Critchfield, James H. Partners at the creation. HV8208.7 .B86 C75 2003

Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Office of the Chief of Staff. Handbook for military government in Germany prior to defeat or surrender. KK4905 .A55 1944

Jewish Agency for Palestine. Search Bureau for Missing Relatives. Register of Jewish survivors. D810 .J4 J315

Grundig, Lea Langer. Be-ge ha-haregah : rishumim / me-et Leʼah Grundig. In the valley of slaughter. N6889.5 .G79 A4

ha-Gesher ha-ḥai : mifgash ha-mitnadvim ha-Eretsyiśreʼelim ʻim sheʼerit ha-peleṭah / Shraiber ; tirgum le-Anglit, Ḥayah Galai ; ʻorekh ha-ḳaṭalog, Yaʻaḳov Tamir]. Living bridge D810 .J4 G475 1983

Habas, Bracha. Yeladim mutsalim / ha-tsiyurim Leʼah Grundig. D810 .J4 H32

Lurie, Esther. Yehudiyot ba-shiʻbud / [me-et] Ester Lurya. Jewesses in slavery NC320 .Z9 L87 1945

Janco, Marcel. Ḳaṿ ha-ḳets : rishumim / M. Yanḳo ; [ha-ʻorkhim, Ḥayim Beʼer, Ḥayim Guri, Avraham Yavin]. ND979 .J3 A4 1981

Habas, Bracha. Ḳorot maʻpil tsaʻir : sipur mi-divre yamenu / Bracha Habas. PJ5053 .H19 K6 1941

Primary Resources from the Manuscripts Collections

Theodore Sullivan Cox Papers, UA 6.062 1931-1946
Theodore Sullivan Cox Papers: Series 2 (Acc. 2008.308) contains material acquired by Dr. Theodore Sullivan Cox in Germany during the Allied occupation after World War II. Includes British, US American and French military bulletins, manuals and pamphlets (in part classified), a poster, three Nazi military medals and two Nazi propaganda films.
Concentration Camp Letters and Postcards, 1941-1944, Mss. Acc. 2012.105, 2012.107
Acc.. 2012.105 includes letters and postcards, 1941-1944, by prisoners from Auschwitz to their families. Acc. 2012.107 includes envelopes and letters, 1942-1944, sent by concentration camp prisoners from Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen, Ravensbrueck, Dachau, Gusen and Auschwitz. Stationary was provided by the camps and incudes rules of communication and also states for example that visits and packages were prohibited. The correspondence was strictly censored and excludes criticism or realistic descriptions of the conditions in the camps.
James H. Critchfield Papers, 1941-2003, Mss. Acc. 2004.09, 2009.367
Documentation and drafts for James Critchfield's book, "Partners at the Creation the Men behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments." Includes oral history transcripts and documents relating to the Berlin Crises (1958-1961), founding of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), declassified Central Intelligence Agency documents (1945-1949), a German-English intelligence glossary, biographical files and correspondence. Also included are photos and records realting to WWII and the Holocaust.
Harry and Anna Saxer Papers, Mss. Acc. 2009.136 1949
In 1949 Harry Saxer, a Pennsylvania steel executive, and his wife Anna Saxer traveled to Germany to assist U. S. military officials with the restoration of Germany's steel industry after World War II. The Saxers were in Germany for much of 1949. Harry Saxer was a civilian employee of the U. S. Army, and worked with the Combined Steel Group in Germany.

They assembled two scrapbooks (Acc. 2009.136) to document their stay in Germany. Some of the predominant formats included are photographs (some of destruction in the Ruhr Valley), postcards, calling cards, business and private correspondence, fliers, invitations, and maps.