Nazi Germany

Primary sources are materials that were created at the time period you are studying. In the case of memoirs, they are the materials recorded later by a participant or witness of an event.

Examples of primary sources are:

As you do background research on your topic, consider what primary sources might exist. Bibliographies you find in books and articles often mention their primary source material.

Published collections of primary sources often contain materials such as diary entries, letters, government documents, newspaper articles, speeches, and photographs.

To find collections of primary sources on a topic in the EMU Library's Esearch system:

1. Make sure you are at the Esearch "Advanced" search screen.

2. In the top box, type in a words or phrases that describe your topic.

3. In another row of search boxes, change the type of search in the drop down box from "All Fields" to "Subject Terms."

 4. In the search box for the "Subject Terms," add one of the following:

5.  OPTIONAL: To limit to books only, scroll down the screen to the "Content type" options and change "Any" to "Book/eBook." You can also limit to items in the library's catalog by scrolling to the "Show only" options and clicking box next to "Items in the library catalog (includes mostly print and physical material)."

6. Click on the "Search" button located in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

The EMU Library has several collections of published documents related to Nazi Germany. To find additional published collections, do an Advanced Search in Esearch, add the word "sources"  in one of the search boxes, and limit to items in the Library Catalog.

Some major document collections include:

Below are some published personal narratives available in the Library.

To find published personal narratives, do an Advanced Search in Esearch, add the word "personal narratives  in one of the search boxes, and limit to items in the Library Catalog