World War II  
  Close this window to return to the World War II Guide  

Documents on World War II

Clicking the links below will open a new window; close that window to return to this page.

Italian Fascism
  Benito Mussolini, What Is Fascism (1932)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html
The Italian dictator describes his program.
 
   
Nazi Ideology 
 

Adolf Hitler: First Antisemitic Writing (September 16, 1919)
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~german/gtext/kaiserreich/hitler2.html
Hitler's early anti-Semitic ideas.

The 25 Points (1920)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/25points.html
An early statement of Nazi principles.

Adolph Hitler, Excerpt from Mein Kampf (1925)
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~german/gtext/kaiserreich/hitler1.html
Hitler discusses the development of his anti-Semitic ideas.

   
Nazi Policies
 

The Nuremberg Laws

Kristallnacht (1938)
http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/knacht.html

Hitler Signs an Order Authorizing Involuntary Euthanasia in Germany (October 1939)
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~german/gtext/nazi/euthanasia-eng.html

   
The Road to War
   
 

The Nanking Massacre, The New York Times (December 18, 1937)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/nanking.html

The Munich Pact, (September 29, 1938)
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/munich1.htm

Neville Chamberlain: Peace in Our Time (1938)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1938PEACE.html

Nazi - Soviet Relations (1939-1941)
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/nazsov/nazsov.htm

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (August 29, 1939)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1939pact.html

   
The War In the European and Pacific Theaters
 

Documents of World War II
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww2.htm
Extensive collection of documents, including many decoded secret Japanese dispatches.

Winston S. Churchill, "We Shall Fight on the Beaches"
Speech to the House of Commons, June 4 1940

http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111chur.html

Winston S. Churchill, "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat" Speech, 1940
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-blood.html

Winston S. Churchill: "Their Finest Hour", To the House of Commons, 18 June 1940
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1940churchill-finest.html

British Songs of World War II
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/ww2-music-uk.html

The Pearl Harbor Attack
 

Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings Before Congress
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/invest.html

Pearl Harbor Attack Documents (1941)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1941PEARL.html

   
The United States Homefront
 

Franklin D. Roosevelt , A Call for Sacrifice (April 28, 1942 )
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1942roosevelt-sacrifice.html
Describes the need to increase government control over the economy.

What Did You Do in the War Grandma?
http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/tocCS.html

   
The Holocaust
 

The Final Solution:

The Wannsee Conference Protocol (January 1942)
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~german/gtext/nazi/wanneng2.html

Heinrich Himmler: Speech to SS Group Leaders at Posen (October 4, 1943) http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-posen.htm
A statement of Nazi policies.

Hermann Friedrich Graebe, Account of Holocaust Mass Shooting (1942)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1942graebe.html
An eyewitness account of a mass shooting.

Rudolf Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz, Testimony at Nuremburg (1946)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1946hoess.html

The Death Camps
http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/yvscamps.html

http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/yvsdocs.html

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/topics/
Teaching resources from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in PDF format
http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/teachabo/
teaching_holcaust.pdf

   
Development and Deployment of the Atomic Bomb
 

Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy--Hiroshima
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/hiroshim.htm
An extensive collection of documents related to the Manhattan Project and the decision to deploy the bomb.

Documents on the Decision to Drop the Bomb http://www.whistlestop.org/study_collections/bomb/large/bomb.htm

Extensive materials from the Truman Archives.
Hiroshima: Was It Necessary
http://www.doug-long.com/
Includes excerpts from President Truman's diaries and papers and Secretary of War Henry Stimson's diary and papers.

   
Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
 

Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/imt.htm

Court TV: Nuremberg Documents
http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/nuremberg/

Charles E. Wyzanski Jr., Nuremberg - A Fair Trial? Dangerous Precedent, The Atlantic Monthly, April 1946
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/nurember/wyprec.htm

Charles E. Wyzanski Jr., Nuremberg in Retrospect, The Atlantic Monthly, December 1946
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/nurember/retrowy.htm

   

Back to Top