The edition which you have in front of you, containing 600 translated and edited sources from throughout German-occupied Europe documenting the everyday experiences of conditions of shortage and supply, is the fruition of the large-scale research and editorial project ‘Societies under German Occupation – Experiences and Everyday Life in World War II’. This project, based at the University of Wuppertal and the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe in Marburg, was funded in its initial, pilot stage by the Leibniz Association, and also received further funding from the University of Wuppertal and the German Historical Institute in Paris.
The central aim of the edition is, through the annotation, translation and editing of a wide variety of sources from throughout the European continent, to document the experiences of everyday life among local populations living under German occupation, in particular their efforts to find supplies and struggles against shortages and hunger, and to open up this field of research to a wider, international public. The result is this collection of sources, taken from 20 countries and translated from 17 languages into English. These sources document the diverse and complex everyday circumstances, experiences and survival strategies of ordinary people in the states and territories occupied by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. They demonstrate not only the different perspectives and regional specificities of daily life for the roughly 230 million members of these occupied societies, from Norway to Greece and France to the Soviet Union, but they also reveal for the first time in this transnational form certain shared experiences common to various differing societies under conditions of occupation. This comparative approach is very timely, since World War II continues to be one of the epochs of world history which draws the greatest attention of scholars and the public alike. Furthermore, given recent developments in memory politics related to World War II in some European countries, this edition also attests to the added value of a transnational concept for the documentation of complex realities and different mind sets and experiences. We therefore believe that this edition not only provides ample opportunity for those interested in these topics to become acquainted with everyday lives all over occupied Europe, but also has the potential to serve as a useful starting point for those seeking to explore these issues further.
None of this would have been possible without the vital contributions made by each and every member of the project across the continent, from the editors and expert supervisors through to the translators and proof-readers and, as the editorial team, we would therefore like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to all 120 of them.1 The transnational and comparative nature of this edition is also reflected in the network of academic experts from throughout the continent, each of whom could feed their knowledge and perspectives into this truly pan-European project. The structure of the network consists of three levels. At the first level, guiding the publication throughout, were the general editors. We would like here to mention Włodzimierz Borodziej in particular. He was with us from the very start of the project, and was one of the absolutely central pillars upon which it rested. We are therefore extremely sad that he did not live to see the fruits of his work, given his passing shortly before its publication. He may not have been able to see the edition in print, but his inspiration, insight and support can be found on every page.
The general editors were assisted, at the following level, by a network of country supervisors, each with a responsibility for overseeing the selection and annotation of the sources from their respective countries. In this they were supported, at the third level, by their own groups of researchers – generally young academics – within each of the countries represented in this edition. Finally, alongside this network, the work of the project was closely coordinated and supervised by the project coordinator and the managing editor. In their work overseeing the implementation of the project guidelines and the preparation of the selected documents for publication, they, in turn, were assisted by a team of nearly 40 translators and numerous proof-readers.
Furthermore, we would like to take this opportunity to once again express our thanks to all those who provided the funding for this challenging endeavour – above all the Leibniz Association, the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe in Marburg, the University of Wuppertal and the German Historical Institute in Paris. Without their support these two volumes would not have been possible.
With these two volumes we hope not only to offer interesting insights into the situation in different countries in World War II Europe, but also to facilitate new research in a field where a transnational perspective is crucial.
A full list of all those who have contributed to this publication can be found in the ‘List of Contributors’, with further information available on the project website at