EDITOR'S NOTE: I have compiled this list of documents for use in courses on modern German history (mainly nineteenth
and twentieth century). I have tried to include a balanced selection of documents in English that are brief enough
to assign for supplemental reading. I include not only textual materials, but some images, artwork, and architecture
as well. Many of the documents I index are located at other sites on the WWW, since they serve my purposes well.
A few I have posted to my own website. My choices have been constrained by what is already available on the WWW
and by what is not copyrighted. If anyone knows of any documents not under copyright that I should include, please
contact me and let me know (with full bibliographical information, please). If you could send an electronic copy
of the document, that would be even better.
DISCLAIMER: I strive for accuracy, but I cannot ensure the accuracy of the documents, especially those not posted
on my own website. If anyone discovers any errors on my website, please contact me and I will try to correct them.
I have also tried only to post documents to my own website that are no longer under copyright. If I have inadvertently
posted a document to my website that is still under copyright, I will remove it when notified.
CONTENTS
18th Century
1789-1815
1815-1850
- Map
of Germany in 1815 (in German)
- Hegel, Introduction to Lectures on Philosophy of History
(1840 ed.)
- Carlsbad Resolutions (1819)
- Klemens von Metternich, On Censorship (excerpt from Memoirs)
(1808)
- Klemens von Metternich, Political Confession of Faith
(1820)
- Klemens von Metternich, On Renewal of the Carlsbad Decrees
(excerpt from Memoirs) (1824)
- Klemens von Metternich, On Opposition in the Pressburg Diet
(excerpt from Memoirs) (1825)
- Klemens von Metternich, On the Death of Emperor Francis
(excerpt from Memoirs) (1835)
- Revolution of 1848, Barricades in Berlin (image) (1848)
- Revolution of 1848, Barricades in Frankfurt (image) (1848)
- Revolution of 1848, Carricature of barricades in Berlin (image) (1848)
- Revolution of 1848, Procession into the Paulskirche for Frankfurt Parliament (image) (1848)
- Revolution of 1848, Frankfurt Parliament in session (image) (1848)
1850-1871
Art and Culture, 1789-1871 (Paintings and Images)
Romanticism
Realism
1871-1890
1890-1914
- The Erfurt Program (1891)
- Wilhelm II, Speech to New Recruits (1891)
- Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism (excerpts)
- Ernst Haeckel, The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science
(1892)
- Berliner
Illustrierte Poll (1899)
- Wilhelm II, German Interests in China (1900)
- Wilhelm II, A Place in the Sun (1901)
- Gustave Freensen, In The German South African Army, 1903-1904
- Sigmund Freud, Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis: First Lecture
- Sigmund Freud, Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis: Third Lecture
- Sigmund Freud, Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis: Fifth Lecture
- Sigmund Freud, "The Structure of the Unconscious"
(1933, 1940)
- Daily Telegraph
Affair (1908)
- Heinrich Class, If I Were Kaiser (1912)
- Friedrich von Bernhardi, The Next War (excerpts) (1912)
Art and Culture, 1871-1914 (Paintings and Images)
Realism
Modernism
- Max Liebermann, Country Tavern at Brunnenburg
(1893)
- Franz Marc, Cows,
Yellow-Red-Green (1912)
- Franz Marc, Red
and Blue Horses (1912)
- Franz Marc, Deer in Flower Garden (1913)
- Wassily Kandinsky, Autumn in Bavaria (1908)
- Wassily Kandinsky, Composition IV (1911)
- Wassily Kandinsky, Contrasting Sounds (1924)
- Paul Klee, 1914
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Street, Dresden (1908)
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Five Women on the Street, 1913
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, The Belle-Alliance-Platz in Berlin
(1914)
- Walter Gropius, AEG Turbine Hall, Berlin (1909)
- an example of Bauhaus architecture
World War I, 1914-1918
1918-1933
- General Ludendorff, On Overcoming the Consequences of the Lost War
(1922)
- Adolf Hitler, First Anti-Semitic Writing (1919)
- Nazi 25-Point Program (for another copy, click here)
- Adolf Hitler, The Discovery of Anti-Semitism in Vienna (excerpt from Mein Kampf)
- Adolf Hitler, Mein
Kampf (excerpt on race)
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (excerpt on propaganda)
- Adolf Hitler, Speech of April 12, 1921
- Adolf Hitler, Zweites Buch (excerpts on anti-Semitism)
- Horst Wessel Song
- Adolf Hitler, Speech at the 1927 Nuremberg Rally
- Joseph Goebbels, Why Do We Want to Join the Reichstag?
(Apr. 1928)
- Joseph Goebbels, Knowledge and Propaganda (Jan.
1928)
- Joseph Goebbels, Will and Way (1931)
- Franz von Papen, Background to the German Crisis
(1932)
1933-1939
- Enabling Act
(1933)
- Joseph Goebbels, German Women (Mar. 1933)
- Boycott
of Jewish Businesses (Apr. 1, 1933)
- Joseph Goebbels, Diary (excerpt on Jewish Boycott)
(Apr. 1, 1933)
- Adolf Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg, Letters on Jews Who Served in German Military
(Apr. 1933)
- Civil
Service Law (Apr. 7, 1933)
- Law for the Protection
of Hereditary Health (1933)
- Organization of Independent Orthodox Communities, Memo to Hitler (Oct. 1933)
- Barmen Declaration (1934)
- Walter Gross, National Socialist Racial Policy
(1934)
- Joseph Goebbels, Our Hitler (1935)
- Nuremberg Laws: Citizenship
Law (1935)
- Nuremberg Laws: Law for
the Protection of German Blood and German Honor (1935)
- Julius Streicher, Selections from Der Stuermer
- Julius Streicher, Quotes from Der Stuermer
- Anti-Comintern Pact (1936)
- Pope Pius XI, Mit Brennender Sorge Encyclical
(1937)
- Adolf Hitler, On Nazism and World Relations
(1937)
- Hossbach Memorandum (1937)
- Cover of Der ewige Jude (image) (1937)
- Munich Pact (Sept. 1938)
- Munich Pact : Annex (Sept. 1938)
- Reinhard Heydrich, Crystal Night Order (Nov. 10,
1938)
- Crystal
Night at the Dinslaken Orphanage (Nov. 10, 1938)
- Report
of Meeting under Goering about Crystal Night (Nov. 12, 1938)
- Adolf Hitler, Speech (excerpt) (Jan. 30, 1939)
World War II
- Documents Relevant
to Alliance of Germany, Japan, and Italy (1936-40)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Letter to Hitler (April 14, 1939)
- The Italo-German
Alliance (May 22, 1939)
- Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression
Pact (Aug. 23, 1939)
- Secret Additional
Protocol to Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (Aug. 23, 1939)
- Adolf Hitler, Letter to Mussolini about the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
(Aug. 25, 1939)
- Benito Mussolini, Reply to Hitler's Letter about the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (Aug. 25, 1939)
- Adolf Hitler, War Directive (Aug. 31, 1939)
- Adolf Hitler, Speech to Reichstag (Sept. 1,
1939)
- Communication
from German government to British government (Sept. 3, 1939)
- Franco-German Armistice (1940)
- Authority of Nazi
Ambassador to Vichy France (August 3, 1940)
- Tri-Partite Pact (Sept. 1940)
- Adolf Hitler, New Year's Order to the German Armed Forces
(December 31, 1940)
- Commissar
Order for Operation Barbarossa (excerpt) (June 6, 1941)
- Walter von Reichenau, A German Field Marshal Instructs the Wehrmacht on Its Role in USSR
- Vyacheslav Molotov, Reaction to German Invasion (1941)
- Night
and Fog Decree (Dec. 7, 1941)
- German
Declaration of War on the US (Dec. 11, 1941) (or another copy
at this
website)
- U.S. Declaration of War on
Germany
- Adolf Hitler, Private and Political Testaments
(April 29, 1945)
- German Surrender Documents
of World War II (1945)
- Yalta Conference Protocol (Feb. 1945)
- Potsdam Conference
Protocol (Aug. 1, 1945)
- Potsdam Conference (photo)
Holocaust
- Adolf Hitler, Order Authorizing "Euthanasia"
(1939)
- Documents
relating to Nazi "Euthanasia" Program
- Documents
relating to Nazi Medical Experiments
- Bishop Galen, Sermon against Nazi "Euthanasia"
- Madagascar
Plan (July 1940)
- Hermann Goering, Letter to Heydrich on the Final Solution
(July 31, 1941)
- Erhard Wetzel to Hinrich Lohse, Letter on Gassing Jews (Oct. 25,
1941)
- Hans Frank, Speech on Exterminating Jews (Dec.
16, 1941)
- Wannsee
Protocol (1942) (another copy is at this site)
- Johann Paul Kremer (SS doctor at Auschwitz), Diary (September 1-5, 1942)
- SS pamphlet, Racial Policy (1943)
- Call
to Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto (Jan. 1943)
- Mordecai Anielewicz, Letter on Warsaw Ghetto Revolt
(Apr. 23, 1943)
- Stroop
Report on destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto (excerpts)
- Kurt Gerstein, Notes on Belzec (Aug. 1942)
- Documents
on Auschwitz
- Testimonies
of SS-men at Auschwitz
- Testimonies
of SS-men at Belzec
- Testimonies
of SS-men at Treblinka
- Jager
Report on Einsatzgruppen Campaign
- Hermann Friedrich Graebe, Account of Holocaust Mass Shooting
(1942)
- Heinrich Himmler, Speech before SS Group Leaders, Posen, Poland
(1943)
- Heinrich Himmler, Documents on Holocaust
- Hans Frank, Diary (excerpts)
- Rudolf Hoess, Testimony at Nuremburg (1946)
- Rudolf Hoess, Autobiography (excerpts)
Art and Culture, 1914-1945
- Käthe Kollwitz, Self-Portrait (1921)
- Otto Dix, Self-Portrait
as a Target (1915)
- Otto Dix, Skat Players (1920)
- Otto Dix, Assault
under Gas (1924)
- Otto Dix, Flanders (1934-36)
- Emil Nolde, Self-Portrait (c. 1917)
- Emil Nolde, Still Life, Tulips (c.1930)
- Max Ernst, Ubu Imperator (1923)
- Max Ernst, Napoleon in the Wilderness (1941)
- Max Ernst, The Eye of Silence (1943-44)
- Max Beckmann, The Skaters (1932)
- George Grosz, I
Am Glad I Came Back (1943)
- Le Corbusier, House at Weissenhof, Stuttgart
(1927)
- J. J. P. Oud, Weissenhof Row Houses, Stuttgart
(1927)
1945-1949
GDR, 1949-1989
FRG, 1949-1989
FRG, 1989-present
Art and Culture, 1945-present
- Theodor Adorno, Culture industry reconsidered
- Max Beckmann, Letters to a Woman Painter (1948)
- Max Beckmann, Beginning, (1949)
- Max Ernst, The Weatherman (1951)
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, National Gallery, Berlin (1962-68)
- Gunter Behnisch, Olympic Games Tent, Munich (1972)
- Gerhard Richter, Abstract Painting (#417) (1977)
- Gerhard Richter, Vase (1984)
- Gerhard Richter, Station (1985)
- Sigmar Polke, Modern Art (1968)
- Sigmar Polke, Camp (1982)
- Sigmar Polke, untitled (1997)
Links to Other Source Documents
German History in Documents and Images - from German
Historical Institute, Washington, DC
German Propaganda Archive - text and images from
Nazi and GDR propaganda
Modern History Sourcebook - a source reader for
a World Civilizations course
Avalon Project at Yale U. - has historical documents
on international relations
Eurodocs
- Europe
Eurodocs - Germany
Hanover Historical Texts Project
H-German Primary Source Archives
Nuremberg Trial Case Files - contains long documents
from the Nuremberg Trials
Yad Vashem Documents on the
Holocaust
Lebendiges Virtuelles Museum - focussing on twentieth-century German
history
The Berlin Wall Online
Artcyclopedia - an excellent search engine for artwork
on the WWW
Page created by Richard Weikart
Partially updated on 24 July 2009.
