German History Sources

German History Sources

by

Richard Weikart

Author of From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

Forthcoming: Hitler's Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)

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

• Frederick the Great, Eulogy on Julien Offray de la Mettrie
• J. G. von Herder, Materials for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (1784)
• Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment? (1784) (for another copy, click here)

1789-1815

• Johann Gottlieb Fichte, To the German Nation (1806)
• Ernst Moritz Arndt, The German Fatherland

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

• Documents of German Unification (1848-1871)
• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communist Manifesto (1848)
• Ludwig Buchner, Force and Matter (Excerpts) (1855)
• Otto von Bismarck, Memoirs (excerpt on 1866 war with Austria)
• Austrian Consitution of 1867
• Max Schneckenburger, The Watch on The Rhine (1870)
• A War Correspondent in the Franco-Prussian War (1870)
• Map of Germany in 1871 (in German)

Art and Culture, 1789-1871 (Paintings and Images)

Romanticism

• Caspar David Friedrich, The Cross on the Mountain
• Caspar David Friedrich, Abbey in an Oak Forest (1809-10)
• Caspar David Friedrich, Morning (1821)
• Caspar David Friedrich, Solitary Tree (1821)
• Caspar David Friedrich, Eldena Ruin (1825)

Realism

• Adolf von Menzel, The Balcony Room (1845)
• Adolf von Menzel, The Back Garden (1850-1860)
• Adolf von Menzel, The Departure after the Party (1860)
• Emil Jakob Schindler, Steamer Landing Stage near Kaisermuhlen (ca.1871/72)

1871-1890

• Gotha Program (1875)
• Dual Alliance (1879)
• Helmuth von Moltke, On the Nature of War (1880)
• Three Emperors League (1881) (for another copy, click here)
• Triple Alliance (1882)
• Otto von Bismarck, Speech on the "Polish Question" (1886)
• Reinsurance Treaty (1887)
• Die Internationale (1888)
• Bismarck's Fall from Power (1890)
• Friedrich Nietzsche, Parable of the Madman (1882)

   

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

• Wilhelm Leibl, Peasants in Conversation (1877)
• Adolf von Menzel, Meissonier's Studio, (circa 1880 - 1889)
• Arnold Bocklin, Death Island (1883)

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

• "The Blank Check"
• The Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia
• Serb Response to the Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum
• German soldiers mobilize (photo) (1914)
• Berlin students enlist (photo) (1914)
• German soldiers on train to the front (photo) (1914)
• German Alliance with Turkey (Aug. 2, 1914)
• Hasslied (English translation)
• Manifesto of the Ninety-Three German Intellectuals (1914)
• German guns fire at Battle of Verdun (photo) (1916)
• Rosa Luxemberg, The War and the Worker (excerpts) (1916)
• Manfred von Richthofen [The Red Baron], Air Warfare
• Zimmermann Telegram (1917)
• Reichstag Peace Resolution (1917)
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918)
• Woodrow Wilson, Fourteen Points (Jan. 8, 1918)
• Allies' Conditional Acceptance of the Fourteen Points (Nov. 5, 1918)
• Armistice Demands (Nov. 10, 1918)
• Ultimatum by the Social Democrats (Nov. 1918)
• Versailles Treaty (excerpts) (1919)
• November Revolution, Berlin (image) (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

• Kathe 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

• Charter of the International Military Tribunal
• Judgement on Goering at Nuremberg
• George Marshall, Speech on Marshall Plan (June 5, 1947)
• NATO Treaty (Apr. 1949)

GDR, 1949-1989

• Walter Ulbricht, Our Five Year Plan for Peaceful Reconstruction (1951)
• Various images of Berlin Wall from 1961 on (photos) (1961)
• Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate (photo) (c. 1986)
• Berlin Wall, Invalidenstrasse crossing point (photo)
• Rules of the Thalmann Pioneers
• Erich Honecker, The GDR: A State of Peace and Socialism (1984)
• Erich Honecker, Two Speeches (1984 & 1989)
• Freie Deutsche Jugend, East German Ideals (1986)

FRG, 1949-1989

• John F. Kennedy, Ich bin ein Berliner Speech (June 26, 1963)

FRG, 1989-present

• Czech-German Declaration (Jan. 21, 1997)

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 OnlineArtcyclopedia - an excellent search engine for artwork on the WWW