History Commons^™

A Summer Of Mass Murder: 1941 Rehearsal For The Hungarian Holocaust, George Eisen

Purdue University Press Books

Most accounts of the Holocaust focus on trainloads of prisoners speeding toward Auschwitz, with its chimneys belching smoke and flames, in the summer of 1944. This book provides a hitherto untold chapter of the Holocaust by exploring a prequel to the gas chambers: the face-to-face mass murder of Jews in Galicia by bullets.

The summer of 1941 ushered in a chain of events that had no precedent in the rapidly unfolding history of World War II and the Holocaust. In six weeks, more than twenty thousand Hungarian Jews were forcefully deported to Galicia and summarily executed. In exploring the fate …

Interview With William Brannen, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History collection

A part of the "Our Hometown Heroes" series. William Brannen interviewed by Linda Awe, November 13, 1999.

Interview With Carl Atwell, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History collection

A part of the "Our Home Town Heroes" series. Carl Atwell interviewed by Linda Awe, November 13, 1999. Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog!

Capturing Quarantine: Student Pandemic Experience Journal, Oliwia Osiecka

Public History Journals

Journal submitted from the first Public History 2020 summer session class at Columbia College Chicago reflecting on aspects of the global pandemic from the student perspective.

Ms-220: Homer W. Schweppe Papers, Abigail E. Metheny

All Finding Aids

This collection is made up of a vast variety of materials pertaining to Homer William Schweppe’s experiences during World War II. Schweppe compiled various items during his initial military service in the United States, such as his Seattle Port Officer I.D. badge and his uniform patches. There are also items from his time at Camp Ritchie, including his glossary of “Nazi Deutsch” terms and a book on the Order of Battle of the German Army, to which he contributed. Schweppe also included items he collected while overseas, such as a German Map of the D-Day Invasion area, a welcome pamphlet …

Nicole Ludwig, Tsos, Nicole Ludwig

TSOS Interview Gallery

In September 2016, Nicole Ludwig led a group of her neighbors in Germany to assist newly-arrived Syrian and Afghani refugees. The volunteers collected clothing and toys, organized activities and field trips for the refugee children, and taught them German. Later, the volunteers offered homework support and led library reading groups. For the adult refugees, the volunteers provided cultural assimilation instruction and cooking classes. While there were occasional challenges to working together, the volunteers and refugees fostered a collaborative system and even hosted a Christmas party, during which one elderly Syrian man said, “This is one of the best memories I …

Layla, Layla, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Layla left Ethiopia 10 years ago to look for work opportunities. She left behind a father and three brothers. She went to Syria on a three-year work contract. She worked in a house and learned Arabic. She then went to Turkey by boat and then went on to Greece for 5 years. She worked and learned the Greek language. When she became pregnant she had to stop working. She travelled to Serbia to Macedonia to Austria all on foot. Then the Red Cross moved Layla and her daughter to Giessen, Germany where a roommate periodically beat her baby. Seeking safety …

An Artist As Soldier: Seeking Refuge In Love And Art, Barbara S. Heisler

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

At the center of this book are the World War II letters (Feldpostbriefe) of a German artist and art teacher to his wife. While Bernhard Epple’s letters to his wife, Gudrun, address many of the topics usually found in war letters (food, lodging conditions, the weather, problems with the mail service, requests for favors from home), they are unusual in two respects. Each letter is lovingly decorated with a drawing and the letters make few references to the war itself. In addition to many personal communications and expressions of love for his wife and children, Epple writes about …

Aisha, Aisha, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Aisha, a Syrian native, lived in Latakia with her Palestinian husband and six children. Their children were not allowed to attend school because of their Palestinian heritage. During the war, mortars and missiles hit the city, and Aisha's brother lost three children. Aisha's uncle in Jordan helped to smuggle their family into Turkey after they decided to escape.

They sailed to Greece with a boat carrying about 350 people. The ship's drivers abandoned it during the journey. To save the children on board, Aisha's husband steered the sinking ship. Her husband was arrested in Greece, and Aisha, who was five …

Aeham, Aeham, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Aeham Ahmad is a pianist from Yarmouk, Syria who gained internet fame from videos posted of him performing on the streets. Because of this, he was targeted and forced to flee to Germany, leaving his wife and two sons behind. Since this interview, his family has joined him.

Aeham’s talent and fame opened up opportunities to perform in various cities in Germany. To share his story during these performances, he learned English. He wants to use music to make a difference in the world. During his time in Yarmouk, there was an underground area where children practiced music because it …

Nevin, Nevin, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Nevin is a civil engineer from Afghanistan who worked with an American company and local government. The Taliban threatened him and demanded he work for them instead and ultimately attacked him on his journey home. After this he began a dangerous journey to Europe full of smugglers, trafficking, encounters with police, poor living conditions and a trip across the Mediterranean in an overcrowded raft.

Nevin ultimately made it to Greece, where he lived in a camp for several months. He received medical care but faced new problems of closed borders and difficulty obtaining papers. He was transferred to a camp …

Kamaria Bakes, Kamaria, Twila Bird, Lindsay Silsby, Yasmine Kataw, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Amina is from Aleppo, where she was a math teacher. She is married with four boys. Her family fled to Turkey from Syria after losing their home in the war. Amina and her youngest son then sailed on an inflatable boat to Greece. Using cars, buses, and trains, they traveled from Greece to Macedonia, then on through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria before finally arriving in Germany. They stayed for two months in Camp Hamburg before being transferred for a short time to Lemberg. Lemberg was followed by another camp for three and a half months and then to Eisenberg …

Ms – 196: “Meine Fahrten” Scrapbook, Jesse E. Siegel

All Finding Aids

This scrapbook includes two sketches, 37 pages with originally 177 photographs (13 missing), three free photographs, and 3 magazine clippings. Below is a list of the places visited by Leiber in the course of the album and the images he included in the album, including their page numbers. Some of the images, particularly from pages 24-30, appear to be chronologically out of order.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More …

Ms – 197: Meine Militärdienstzeit, Jesse E. Siegel

All Finding Aids

The collection includes one photo album with 48 pages and 263 pictures, three missing, and two sheets of newspaper, one dated June 1, 1937, and the other dated November 21, 1937. Below is a list of the places visited by the officer in the course of the album that could be identified, and the images he included in the album, including their page numbers. Some of the images, particularly the tank picture on page 10 and the locations depicted on pages 42-43, may be chronologically out of order.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to …

Bilal, Bilal, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Bilal was 23 years old when he drowned in Greece. He was cheerful, intelligent, and full of energy.

He was a journalist in Afghanistan who received a death threat from the Taliban. His family decided that he should flee the country alone for survival since they couldn’t afford for the whole family to go.

He escaped from the camp in Moria by finding a hole in the fence. He outran the police, found a ship in port, and jumped on it as it was leaving. He later had 10 unsuccessful attempts to leave Greece for Germany. He was caught by …

Dayton Codebreaker Highlights Pride In Contribution To Wwii, Jeremy Dobbins, Will Davis

Veterans' Voices on WYSO

For some who serve in the military, their work is top secret, and the contribution they make to national security may never be publicly known. The WYSO Veterans' Voices series tells the story of Army veteran John Harshman who, unbeknownst to him, helped crack the code of the German Enigma machines. Those machines were used to encrypt secret messages during World War II.

Interview With Richard Dinning, Richard Dinning

Winthrop University Oral History Program

In his October 17, 2012 interview with Robert Ryals, Richard Dinning (1922-2022) details his thoughts and memories as an Army Air Corps cadet at Winthrop. Dinning includes details of his career in the Army Air Corp during WWII.

Captain Richard Dinning (1922-2022) was a combat pilot and WWII veteran. Capt. Dinning flew a B-17 bomber on 33 missions over Germany from 1944 to 1945. Before his stint in the war his Army Air Corp training brought him to Winthrop College. In 1943 the U. S. Army established the 41st College Training Detachment at Winthrop College to train young men for …

A Knight At The Opera: Heine, Wagner, Herzl, Peretz, And The Legacy Of Der Tannhäuser, Leah Garrett

Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies

A Knight at the Opera examines the remarkable and unknown role that the medieval legend (and Wagner opera) Tannhäuser played in Jewish cultural life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book analyzes how three of the greatest Jewish thinkers of that era, Heinrich Heine, Theodor Herzl, and I. L. Peretz, used this central myth of Germany to strengthen Jewish culture and to attack anti-Semitism. In the original medieval myth, a Christian knight lives in sin with the seductive pagan goddess Venus in the Venusberg. He escapes her clutches and makes his way to Rome to seek absolution from …

Musica Mechanica Organoedi • Musical Mechanics For The Organist, Jacob Adlung, Johann Lorenz Albrecht, Johann Friedrich Agricola, Quentin Faulkner

Zea E-Books Collection

This is the first English translation of Musica mechanica organoedi, originally published in Berlin in 1768. Its author Jacob Adlung (1699-1762) was a musician and scholar and organist at the Predigerkirche in Erfurt.

The Musica mechanica organoedi focuses primarily on the organ, from the perspective of the information an organist might need to know about the instrument; specifically, it encompasses the following:

• an evaluation, from an 18th-century perspective, of earlier works on its subject: Praetorius, Werkmeister, Mattheson, Niedt, Kircher and others

• an appreciation of the organ: its value and regard

• the history of the organ

• …

Pursuing Justice: Nuremberg's Legacy [Poster], University Of Northern Iowa. Center For Holocaust And Genocide Education.

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education Documents

A poster advertising a traveling exhibit on the Nuremberg Trials.

Interview With John Chester, John Chester

Winthrop University Oral History Program

In his April 3, 2008 interview with Kristin Malone, John Chester details his service overseas in Europe during WWII. Included are stories of interactions with German soldiers and the rules and regulations of the United States Military. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.

Germany, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Ethnic History

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Ms-093: John Henry Wilbrand Stuckenberg Papers, Tara R. Wink

All Finding Aids

The John Henry Wilbrand Stuckenberg collection consists of materials relating to the life and works of J.H.W. and Mary Gingrich Stuckenberg. This material includes correspondence, publications, articles, newspaper clippings, and personal papers—such as diaries, biographical material, and photographs of both J.H.W. and Mary Gingrich Stuckenberg.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Totalitarian Science And Technology, Paul R. Josephson

Faculty Books

In Totalitarian Science and Technology Paul Josephson considers how physicists, biologists, and engineers have fared in totalitarian regimes. Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin relied on scientists and engineers to build the infrastructure of their states. The military power of their regimes was largely based on the discovery of physicists and biologists. They sought to use biology to transform nature, including their citizens, with murderous effect in Nazi Germany. They expected scientists to devote themselves entirely to the goals of the state, and were intolerant of deviation from state-sponsored programs and ideology. As a result, physicists, biologists, and engineers suffered from …

Literary Skinheads? Writing From The Right In Reunified Germany, Jay Julian Rosellini

Purdue University Press Books

"Literary Skinheads? is a very nuanced, meticulously researched and vividly written study of a series of important debates in German literary circles since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rapid political transformations that have accompanied German unification. No other book in the English-speaking world offers such a comprehensive survey of the legacy of radical conservative ideas in German political life. Rosellini not only offers trenchant interpretations of major political controversies of the last decade in Germany, but he also provides the necessary background information needed to make sense of these important public debates." Elliott Neaman, author of …

Radical Perspectives On The Rise Of Fascism In Germany, 1919-1945, Michael N. Dobkowski, Isidor Wallimann

Books

The rise of National Socialism in Germany and the resulting Holocaust has proven to be one of the most engaging subjects of historical reflection. Rather than presenting the Weimar Republic as a failed democracy, flawed in both its political culture and its democratic institutional tradition, and undermined by an economic collapse, the emphasis here will be on seeing it as a developed capitalist society with distinct structural deficiencies and contradictions that weakened it from the outset.

Interview With Jamie R. Hendrix, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History collection

Jamie R. Hendrix interviewed by Esther Mallard, 1988. Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog!

Interview With William Ledford - Oh 103, William Ledford

Winthrop University Oral History Program

In his November 30, 1980 interview with his daughter Anne Ledford, William Ledford remembers his service in the Army during WWII. In particular, Ledford details his basic training and journey through Iceland, England, and France. Ledford shares his recollection of the Battle of the Bulge and the aftermath of WWII. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.

American Diplomats And The Franco-Prussian War: Perceptions From Paris And Berlin, M. Patricia Dougherty

Faculty Authored Books and Book Contributions

In July 1870, war between Prussia and France erupted over the candida ture of a German prince to the Spanish throne, with far-reaching con sequences for the balance of power in Europe. Six weeks later, the German army decisively defeated the French at Sedan and captured the French emperor. Napoleon III. Although this victory precipitated the collapse of the Second French Empire, it did not end the war. Only after a four-month siege of Paris did the French surrender to the Germans on January 28, 1871. Between this date and the signing of the peace treaty at Frankfurt on May …

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 27, No. 2, James Moss, Holly Cutting Baker, Robert A. Barakat, Karl J. R. Arndt

Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine

• Gentlemen of the Road: Outlaw-Heroes of Early Pennsylvania in Life & Legend
• Patent Medicine in Pennsylvania Before 1906: A History Through Advertising
• Raising a Tobacco Shed
• Bicentennial Exhibitions and Publications in Germany
• Work and Work Attitudes: Folk-Cultural Questionnaire No. 50