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Materials for Austrian History in the National Archives Microfilm Series

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

John Haag
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
W. Robert Houston
Affiliation:
University of South Alabama

Extract

One of the most useful and easily accessible guides to primary sources relating to Austrian, Hungarian, and Austro- German history for the years 1933–1945 available in the United States is the continuing multivolume series prepared under the direction of the Committee for the Study of War Documents of the American Historical Association entitled Guides to German Records microfilmed at Alexandria, Va. (Washington, D. C.: The National Archives, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1958-). In the past a person using this series has had to go through all the volumes page by page. This article is intended to provide a working guide to this widely scattered material, much of which has remained buried amid a mass of other data. The listings which follow are suggestive rather than exhaustive. Although the annotations are concentrated on what the authors believe are the more immediately valuable materials in each category, every page cited contains documents related to the general historical area in each section. Our breakdown is divided into the following five sections: (1) economic history, (2) military history, (3) Nazi administration and repression, (4) political history, and (5) miscellaneous materials.

Type
Bibliographical Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1968

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References

1 This article is based on the fifty-nine catalogues which were issued up to the end of 1968. Approximately eighty volumes will have been published when the series is completed around 1970. Letter from George O. Kent to the authors, Washington, D. C, May 19, 1967. A list of the catalogues as of June, 1966, can be found in Publications of the National Archives and Records Service, issued by the National Archives, Washington, D. C. Another guide in the same general series is Ernst, Schwändt, Index of Microfilmed Records of the German Foreign Ministry and the Reich's Chancellery covering the Weimar Period deposited at the National Archives (Washington, D. C.: The National Archives, 1958)Google Scholar. Three catalogues of great value, which list data including sound recordings of the 1930's, are Gerhard L. Weinberg and the War Documentation Project Staff, under the direction of Epstein, Fritz T., Guide to Captured German Documents (Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Human Resources Research Institute, 1952)Google Scholar; Weinberg, Gerhard L., Supplement to the Guide to Captured German Documents (Washington, D. C.: The National Archives, 1959)Google Scholar; and Grete, Heinz and Peterson, Agnes F., NSDAP Hauptarchiv. Guide to the Hoover Institution Microfilm Collection. In Hoover Institution Bibliographical Series, Vol. XVII (Stanford, Calif.: The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University, 1964)Google Scholar. See also U. S. National Archives, List of National Archives Microfilm Publications (Washington, D. C.: The National Archives, 1947-)Google Scholar; U. S. Library of Congress, Union Catalog Division, Newspapers on Microfilm (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1948-)Google Scholar; Hale, Richard Walden (ed.), Guide to Photocopied Historical Materials in the United States and Canada (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, [1961])Google Scholar; U. S. National Historical Publications Commission, A Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in the United States, edited by Hamer, Philip M. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1961)Google Scholar; Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei, Captured German Documents filmed at Berlin. Index, by Koehl, Robert L. (Washington, D. C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1961)Google Scholar; The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959–1961 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: J. W. Edwards, 1962), pp. 261 and 657Google Scholar; National Register of Microform Masters (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1965-)Google Scholar; and Supplement to the List of National Archives Microfilm Publications 1966 (Washington, D. C.: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1967)Google Scholar. A recent undertaking that promises to be of great importance for both German and Austrian history is the microfilming of the German- language press, a project that is presently being carried out by the Mikrofilmarchiv der deutschsprachigen Presse in Dortmund.

2 On the Kriegstagebuch as an important historical source, see Walther, Hubatsch, “Das Kriegstagebuch als Geschichtsquelle,” Wehrwissenschaftliche Rundschau, Vol. XV, No. 11 (November, 1965), pp. 615623Google Scholar. For an introduction to research in Austrian economic history, see Wolfram, Fischer, “Some Recent Developments of Business History in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,” Business History Review, Vol. XXXVII, No. 4 (Winter, 1963), pp. 416436Google Scholar.

3 On this important ministry, the Wehrwirtschafts- und Röstungsamt (Wi Rü Amt), see Carroll, Bernice Jacobs, Design for Total War: the Contest for ‘Wehrwirtschaft‘ under the Third Reich (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Brown University, 1960)Google Scholar. For the development of the Austrian armaments industry under German occupation, see Norbert, Schausberger, Geschichte der Rüstungsindustrie auf dem Gebiet der sogenannten Donau- und Alpenreichsgaue 1938–1945 (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Vienna, 1967)Google Scholar.

4 A useful general introduction to Austrian military history is Unser Heer. 3OO Jahre österreichisches Soldatentum in Krieg und Frieden (Vienna: Fürlinger, 1963)Google Scholar.

5 A history of this, the highest Habsburg military decoration, can be written on the basis of documents which since 1946 have been housed in a special section of the Kriegsarchiv in Vienna. See Allmayer-Beck, Johann Christoph, “Die Kanzlei und das Archiv des Militär-Maria-Theresia-Ordens,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, Vol. X (1957), pp. 243256Google Scholar.

6 A basic study of the Austrian army during these years is Ludwig, Jedlicka, Ein Heer im Schatten der Parteien. Die militärpolitwche Lage Österreichs 1918–1938 (Graz: Böhlau, 1955)Google Scholar.

7 Löhr commanded Army Group E in the Balkans from 1943 to 1945; Rendulic was in command of the Twentieth Mountain Army in Finland and Norway from the summer of 1944 until January, 1945. Rendulic has written an autobiography: Soldat in stürzenden Reichen (Munich: Damm-Verlag, 1965)Google Scholar. On Löhr, , see the obituaries in Militörpolitisches Forum, Vol. V, No. 4 (April 30, 1956), pp. 2122Google Scholar; and Der Luftwaffenring, Vol. II, No. 12 (December, 1955), pp. 56Google Scholar. An unusual source for military history is a collection of songs of the Gebirgsarmeekorps XVIII: Im gleichen Schritt und Tritt. Lieder ostmärkischer Soldaten, edited by Hergo, Manz and Karl, Senn (Munich: Eher Verlag, 1941)Google Scholar.

8 Valuable information on Nazi rule in Austria can be gleaned from various scattered published sources, including the Nationalsozialistisches Jahrbuch, edited by Leo, Haubenberger (Vienna: Verlag der Völkischen Buchhandlung, 1926)Google Scholar; and the succeeding volumes, Nationalsozialistisches Jahrbücher (Munich: Eher Verlag, 19271944)Google Scholar; and the important post Anschluss commemorative volume published by the NSDAP Sturmabteilung, Das Jahr der SA. Vorn Parteitag der Arbeit zum Parteitag Grossdeutschlands Grossdeutschlands (Munich: Eher Verlag, 1939)Google Scholar. The NSDAP Hauptarchiv, which contains much valuable material on Austrian Nazism, has been reproduced on microfiche by NCR Microcard Editions.

9 For Kaltenbrunner's career, see Houston, W. R., Ernst Kaltenbrunner at the Summit: A Study of the Last Chief of the Security Police and Security Service (unpublished M. A. thesis, Rice University, 1966)Google Scholar.

10 Microfilms of the German foreign ministry archives offering vast documentation on Austro-Hungarian-German diplomatic relations from the Bismarck era through the years of the Third Reich are listed in Committee for the Study of War Documents of the American Historical Association (ed.), A Catalogue of Files and Microfilms of the German Foreign Ministry Archives 1867–1920 ([Oxford: Oxford University Press,] 1959)Google Scholar; United States Department of State, Historical Office, A Catalogue of Files and Microfilms of the German Foreign Ministry Archives 1920–1945, edited by Kent, George O. (4 vols. projected, Stanford, Calif.: The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University, 1962-)Google Scholar; Great, Britain, Public Record Office, Guide to the Contents of the Public Record Office, Vol. II: State Papers and Departmental Records (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1963), pp. 4549Google Scholar; National Archives Accessions, No. 53 (January, 1957), p. 31; The Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, Vol. IX, No. 3 (May, 1952), pp. 145146Google Scholar; and University of Michigan Library, A Catalogue of German Foreign Ministry Archives 1867–1920 microfilmed at Whaddon Hall for the University of Michigan under the Direction of Howard M. Ehrmann ([Ann Arbor, Mich.]: n. p., 1957)Google Scholar. On the source materials for a history of Jewish exterminations, see Jacob, Robinson and Philip, Friedman, Guide to Jewish History under Nazi Impact. In Yad Washem Martyrs' and Heroes' Memorial Authority, Jerusalem, and Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, New York, Joint Documentary Projects, Bibliographical series, No. 1 (New York: [Yivo Institute for Jewish Research], 1960)Google Scholar; and Blackbook of Localities whose Jewish Population was exterminated by the Nazis ([Jerusalem]: Yad Vashem Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, 1965), pp. 279289Google Scholar.

11 The structure of the Nazi party organization in Austria is outlined in the volume published by the NSDAP Reichsorganisationsamt entitled Gau-, Kreis- und Ortsgruppen-Verzeichnis der NSDAP in der Ostmark (Vienna: J. Möller, [c. 1938]). The Library of Congress has a microfilm copy of this rare volume (Microfilm 802 DB)Google Scholar.

12 On these legal transformations, see Raphael, Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation—Analysis of Government—Proposals for Redress (Washington, D. C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1944), pp. 108116 and 283–299Google Scholar.

13 Material for a history of Austrian-Japanese relations during this period can also be found listed in Uyehara, Cecil H. and Beal, Edwin G., Checklist of Archives in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tokyo, Japan, 1868–1945 (Washington, D. C.: Photoduplication Service, Library of Congress, 1954)Google Scholar.

14 The life and ideas of Othmar Spann (1878–1950) have been outlined in John, Haag, Othmar Spann and the Politics of “Totality:” Corporatism in Theory and Practice (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rice University, 1969)Google Scholar.

15 This “research” group made plans for the Germans to gain economic hegemony in southeastern Europe after a Nazi victory. Vienna was to be the center of this octopus of control (Vol. I, p. 29). Fundamental studies of the Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft are Dietrich Otto, Orlow, A Study of the Nazi Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 1962)Google Scholar; and Orlow, Dietrich Otto, The Nazis in the Balkans. A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics ([Pittsburgh, Pa.]: University of Pittsburgh Press, [1968])Google Scholar. Recent developments in the collection and publication of captured German and related material in microfilm form are described in Central European History, Vol. I, No. 4 (December, 1968), p. 392Google Scholar; and Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives, Vol. I, No. 1 (Spring, 1969), p. 64Google Scholar. See also Epstein, Fritz T., German Source Materials in American Libraries (Milwaukee, Wise.: Marquette University Press, 1958)Google Scholar; and David, Kahn, “Secrets of the Nazi Archives,” The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CCXXIII, No. 5 (May, 1969), pp. 5056Google Scholar.