New: East Germany from Stalinization to the New Economic Policy, 1950-1963

And here’s more good news – and more online resources newly acquired for historians!

Oxford users now also have access to East Germany from Stalinization to the New Economic Policy, 1950-1963. Access is via SOLO (shortly) or OxLIP+.

This publication reproduces the US State Department Decimal Files 762B, 862B and 962B from the General Records of the Department of State, in the custody of the National Archives. It was originally microfilmed as Records of the U.S. Department of State, relating to the Internal Affairs of East Germany.

12 May 1950 - Kenneth Holland note regarding status of historic monuments in East Germany

12 May 1950 – Kenneth Holland note regarding status of historic monuments in East Germany

It specifically looks at in depth the creation of the East German state, living conditions and its people. Documents included in this collection are predominantly instructions to and dispatches from U.S. diplomatic and consular personnel, regarding political, military, economic, social, cultural, industrial and other internal conditions and events in East Germany.

Related resources:

See yesterday’s blog about online access to three East Germany newspapers.

Declassified Documents Reference System US (DDRS). Provides online access to over 500,000 pages of previously classified government documents. Covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond, this single source enables users to locate key information underpinning studies in international relations, American studies, United States foreign and domestic policy studies, journalism and more.

Digital National Security Archive (DNSA). Collection: The Berlin Crisis 1958-1962. Beginning with documents from late 1953 when the Eisenhower administration began to formulate its Berlin contingency plans and closing with a series of newly declassified State Department histories from the late 1960s, The Berlin Crisis contains more than 11,500 pages from almost 3,000 documents.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) 1974-1996 [selections]: Eastern Europe, 1974–1996. The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report has been the United States’ principal record of political and historical open source intelligence for nearly 70 years.

3 historical East German newspapers now online

“From advertisements to propaganda to personal interest stories, the newspapers of Communist East Germany are a historical wellspring. Thanks to a four-year digital achiving project, three major papers are now available for free online.” – thus reports Charly Wilder in Digitizing the GDR: East German Papers Offer Glimpse of History Der Spiegel, June 27, 2013.

Front page of Neues Deutschland showing grainy photos of Marx and Engels under the headline 100 Jahre Kommunistiches Manifest

A 1948 cover of Neues Deutschland, the official newspaper of East Germany’s Communist Party, devotes its cover to “100 Years of the Communist Manifesto.”

In ZEFYS (Zeitungsinformationssystem), the DDR-Presse offers access to three historical East German newspapers. They are:

These important historical newspapers therefore cover the period of Soviet occupation 1945-49 and the DDR itself (1949-1990) with also some coverage beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification in 1990.

Neues Deutschland

Financed and published by the SED, it appeared first on 23 April 1946. It reflects strongly party-political views on all matters, also relating to culture, literature, sports and social affairs.

Berliner Zeitung

This is Berlin’s oldest continuous daily, first published as early as 21 May 1945, so very soon as German surrender. Despite being located in the capital and close to the SED, it was able to maintain its own distinct profile.

Neue Zeit

This newspaper was the party newspaper of the conservatives, CDU, in East German. It first appeared on 22 July 1945. It is aimed reach those for the Neues Deutschland did not appeal.

Access

Access is free but you will need to register. If you are a registered reader of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (SBB), you can login with the readers card login. For information regarding access, see https://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/.

Forthcoming resources:

East Germany from Stalinization to the New Economic Policy, 1950-1963

This online resource reproduces the State Department Decimal Files 762B, 862B and 962B from the General Records of the Department of State, in the custody of the National Archives. It was originally microfilmed as Records of the U.S. Department of State, relating to the Internal Affairs of East Germany.

It specifically looks at in depth the creation of the East German state, living conditions and its people.  Documents included in this collection are predominantly instructions to and dispatches from U.S. diplomatic and consular personnel, regarding political, military, economic, social, industrial and other internal conditions and events in East Germany.

[update 3 August 2023]

New: Hitler Quellen 1924-45

I’m delighted to announce that Oxford historians now have online access to Hitler Quellen 1924-45. Access is via SOLO (shortly) and OxLIP+.

Adolf_HitlerCompiling 3 key German sources on Hitler in a single database, this resource gives online access to Hitler: Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933 (Saur, 1992-) and Hitler : Reden und Proklamationen, 1932-1945 (Max Domarus ed., 1962-1963) as well as documentation of Hitler’s trial for high treason in 1924.

The database can be searched by topic thanks to an integrated subject index; it is also searchable by date, place, name, and publication title. The source texts are in German.

Can’t read German? There is a translation of the second title here: Hitler : speeches and proclamations, 1932-1945 : the chronicle of a dictatorship / [compiled by] Max Domarus ; translated from the German by Mary Fran Gilbert. (London : Tauris, 1990-).

Related resources in Oxford:

Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online/ Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels Online (Oxford readers only). Includes a transcription of all handwritten entries from the years 1923 to July 1941 and the subsequent dictations up until 1945. This edition, issued by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, is based on the reproduction of the entire diaries on glass microfiches – commissioned by Goebbels himself – that was discovered by Elke Fröhlich in the former special archive in Moscow. For the first time, the database gives researchers the chance to access the diaries of Joseph Goebbels electronically using the valuable subject index that until now was available in print only.

Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei (NSDAP): Akten der Partei-Kanzlei der NSDAP [microfiche]: Rekonstruktion eines verlorengegangenen Bestandes; herausgegeben vom Institut für Zeitgeschichte. (München: Saur: Oldenbourg, c1983-1992). [BOD Microfiches 562]

Akten der Reichskanzlei. Regierung Hitler 1933-1945 / bearbeitet von Karl-Heinz Minuth (Boppard am Rhein : Boldt, 1983-)

Der Kirchenkampf: the Gutteridge-Micklem collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 515 microfiches. (London : Saur, [1988]). Includes materials, assembled from private collections, which detail the attempts of the German clergy to maintain a separate identity under the Third Reich. These materials document two struggles: that of the evangelical church against the Nazi attempt to impose a unified Reichskirche; and the struggle within the church to establish and define its own development and structure while under siege. The collection includes books, periodicals, pamphlets, correspondence, reports, memoranda and manuscripts. Most of this material originated in the Bekennende Kirche, but there is also coverage of the Roman Catholic Church, the National Socialists and their various subsections, as well as other German and British Christian churches. Also included are unique manuscripts describing the precarious situation of the pastors, bishops, religious publishers and printers whose lives and livelihoods were threatened by the Third Reich. There are lists of pastors who were imprisoned or suspended from duty, press service reports and banned literature.

Using microfilms and fiches?

Don’t be put off by old technology. There is a shiny new microfilm reader/scanner in the Upper Reading Room, Old Bodleian Library.

Trial until 10 June: Hitler. Quellen 1924-45

Oxford users are now invited to trial Hitler. Quellen 1924-45.

Adolf_HitlerCompiling 3 key German sources on Hitler in a single database, this resource gives online access to Hitler: Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933 and Hitler : Reden und Proklamationen, 1932-1945 (Max Domarus ed., 1962-1963) as well as documentation of Hitler’s trial for high treason in 1924.

The database can be searched by topic thanks to an integrated subject index; it is also searchable by date, place, name, and publication title.

Undergraduates taking the Special Subject Nazi Germany, a racial order, 1933-45 will find this database particularly useful.

Achtung! Please note that the source texts are all in German.

Comments can be left on the History databases desiderata site or sent to isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk by 10 June when the trial ends.

Related resource already available in Oxford:

Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online/ Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels Online

Newly bookmarked: Drucksachen und Plenarprotokolle des Bundestages (1949-2005) [German parliamentary papers and debates]

20th century European historians might be interested to know of a newly released major free resource:

Deutscher Bundestag

Drucksachen und Plenarprotokolle des Bundestages – 1949 bis 2005 (Wahlperiode 1-15) is now available online and provides full-text access to German post-45 parliamentary papers and debates of the lower house (Bundestag).

Papers covering 2005- current (Wahlperiode 16 und 17)  are accessible via DIP (Dokumentations- und Informationssystem für Parlamentarische Vorgänge) and includes papers of both houses (Bundestag and Bundesrat).

These government papers are useful for both internal and foreign affairs but also post-Holocaust discussions, economic and social history, and information about and views from individual members of parliament (Bundestagsabgeordnete).

Documents are displayed in PDF format and can large, i.e. slow to load. Searching is not terrifically sophisticated, but it does search full-text and offers limiting afterwards. The PDFs can be searched full-text as well. It helps to have a document reference number. You can do more sophisticated searches for 2002-current in DIP.

The websites are now bookmarked on the HFL Delicious website.

New: DigiZeitschriften

Oxford users now have access to DigiZeitschriften, a German resource which is often likened to JSTOR.

DigiZeitschriften

DigiZeitschriften offers electronic access to historical scholarly German periodical literature. Those of most interest to historians include:

  • Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 33 (1951) – 90 (2008)
  • Deutsches Archiv für Geschichte des Mittelalters (1 (1937) – 7 (1944) / Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 8 (1951) – 65 (2009)
  • Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 1 (1950) – 57 (2008)
  • Historische Zeitschrift 1 (1859) – 274 (2002)
  • Historisches Jahrbuch 1 (1880) – 128 (2008)
  • Jewish studies quarterly 1 (1993) – 9 (2001)
  • Zeitschrift für Social- und Wirthschaftsgeschichte 1 (1893) – 7 (1900) / VSWG Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1 (1903) – 95 (2008)

and more.

DZ  also includes periodicals for other subjects, including Egyptology, Archaeology, History of the Book, Art, German studies,  Oriental studies, Law, Philosophy, Religion, Modern Languages.

DZ is now on OxLIP+ and the individual journal titles are in OU eJournals.

Related links:

JSTOR

New: The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online

Oxford users now have access to Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels Online / The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online.

Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Reich’s Minister for Propaganda 1933-45. As leading member of the German National Socialist Party and Propaganda Minister in Hitler’s government 1933-1945, the diaries of Joseph Goebbels are a key source for the Third Reich and the history of the Nazi party and Hitler himself.

This edition in German is issued by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte. It includes a transcription of all handwritten entries from the years 1923 to July 1941 and the subsequent dictations up until 1945 and is based on the reproduction of the entire diaries on glass microfiches – commissioned by Goebbels himself – that was discovered by Elke Fröhlich in the former special archive in Moscow.

For the first time, the database gives researchers the chance to access the diaries of Joseph Goebbels electronically using the valuable subject index that until now was available in print only.

Printed set in the Bodleian Library:

Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Teil I, Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941. 9 vols.

Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Teil II, Diktate 1941-1945. 15 vols.

Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels : sämtliche Fragmente. Teil 1, Aufzeichnungen 1924-1941. 4 vols.

Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Teil III, Register 1923-1945. 3 vols.

Launched 28 Nov: Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB)

The first public beta version of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB) was launched on Wednesday 28 November.

Front page of the DDB

Ultimately the goal of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB) is to offer everyone unrestricted access to Germany’s cultural and scientific heritage, that is, access to millions of books, archived items, images, sculptures, pieces of music and other sound documents, as well as films and scores, from all over Germany. At the moment, the content is still sparse in places and unbalanced and some of the scans feature hands of the staff! At least we know that they wear gloves…

DDB is not the repository itself but provides the search engine for digitised content held in other German institutions. Users will only see the first digitised page / image in DDB and must remember to click through to the owning library, museum etc.

There are a number of search options and filters (by media, location, language, etc.) though considering the vast range of different types of materials, these will be somewhat limited.

Image of 1952 TV ad for Persil washing powder (Source: Deutches Filminstitut)

Access & rights

Access to the DDB is free to the user. There are existing copyright agreements and other rights to consider when accessing content. Because the digital content made available by the DDB is not actually held by the DDB but rather by the relevant institution (which is also the point of retrieval), those bodies are consequently responsible for any access monitoring or associated costs which may be required.

Trial: Daily Reports of the Gestapo HQ in Vienna 1938-1945

A trial of Daily Reports of the Gestapo HQ in Vienne 1938-1945 is now available to Oxford users via OxLIP+ and History databases desiderata & trials webpage. Staff and students of the History Faculty are encouraged to leave comments on the History databases desiderata & trials webpage or to email the History Librarian. Feedback will be collated and presented to the Committee of Library Provision in History which advises on the prioritisation of funds.

The trial ends 14 December 2012.

Daily Reports of the Gestapo HQ in Vienna 1938-1945 (trial)

Tagesrapport Nr. 6 vom 12., 13. und 14.11.1938: Nationale Opposition: Joahnna Ettenauer, Näherin, wurde wegen Beleidigung des Führers… festgenommen.

From 1934 on, the Regional Gestapo Headquarters throughout the entire German Reich had to report all political incidents of the previous 24 hours to Berlin. The purpose of these reports was to outline the mood, the political situation and security measures. This regulation was later applied to Austria, following its annexation. Shortly before the beginning of the war, the Nazi Regime issued a decree with new instructions for the dispatch of the so-called “Tagesrapporte” or daily reports. Henceforth, they were to be kept shorter and report, above all, on the communist and Marxist movements in the country.

The daily reports of the Gestapo regional headquarters in Vienna are now published for the first time and thus available for historical research. For no other Gestapo regional headquarters is such a concentration of source material available. The first daily report on record from the Gestapo regional headquarters in Vienna dates from September 2nd 1938. Until the demise of the Nazi regime some 810 reports were sent from Vienna to the central headquarters in Berlin.

Related trial until 30 Nov 2012:

Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online

Trials: Churchill Archive / The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online

Trials to two eresources are now available to Oxford users via OxLIP+ and History databases desiderata & trials webpage. Staff and students of the History Faculty are encouraged to leave comments on the History databases desiderata & trials webpage or to email the History Librarian. Feedback will be collated and presented to the Committee of Library Provision in History which advises on the prioritisation of funds.

The Churchill Archives

Churchill Archive

Churchill Archive

This provides access to nearly 800,000 documents such as speeches, private letters, telegrams, manuscripts and government transcripts. Accompanying the resource are specially-commissioned articles, as well as reading lists and bibliographies. Readers can search the collection by topic, by person, by place or by period. This resources is relevant for students and researches of modern history, politics and international affairs.

The trial ends 9 January 2013.

The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online

The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online (trial)

The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels Online (trial)

Thisinclude a transcription of all handwritten entries from the years 1923 to July 1941 and the subsequent dictations up until 1945. This edition, issued by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, is based on the reproduction of the entire diaries on glass microfiches – commissioned by Goebbels himself – that was discovered by Elke Fröhlich in the former special archive in Moscow. For the first time, the database gives researchers the chance to access the diaries of Joseph Goebbels electronically using the valuable subject index that until now was available in print only.

Ignore the option to arrange a trial and click on “Search database” underneath the image.

The trial ends 30 November 2012.