Tarnschriften 1933 bis 1945

Since censorship and political persecution of the parties and authors prevented the legal publication of opposition ideas, camouflaged texts became a significant part of the resistance after 1933. Anti-regime writings were published and distributed illegally in Germany and Austria from 1933 to the end of the war behind innocuous covers with fictitious details of author, title, publisher, and year and place of publication. Most camouflaged writings originated from the KPD and the SPD, but also emigrated intellectuals and Jews chose to use camouflaged contributions to enlighten the German public about the Nazi dictatorship. Heinz Gittig found about 1,000 camouflaged writings from the years 1933–1945 in European archives and libraries, and created a bibliography of them. The database contains these writings as facsimiles with bibliographical details.

Background
After seizing power, the National Socialists systematically suppressed the publication and distribution of pacifist and political opposition writings by communists, social democrats and other resistance groups. Among the goals of these illegal writings were the political, tactical and organizational instruction of members of the resistance; the creation of a united peoples front of all the regime’s opponents; and educating people about the criminal character of the Nazi regime, the persecution of the Jews, and about the reasons for the war and its real progress. Because the distribution and possession of camouflaged writings was punishable and carried serious penalties, many camouflaged writings were destroyed immediately after being read.

Reproduction of the documents in the database

The camouflaged writings can be found as digital facsimiles with a bibliographical description with the help of the “Browse” button under “Quellen“ [Sources] or with the help of the search criterion “Type” in the dropdown menu under “Tarnschrift”. An introduction to the work and a list of institution codes are also available under “Erläuternde Materialien” [Explanatory Materials].

The database is based on the following print and microfiche edition:
Tarnschriften 1933 bis 1945. Editor: K. G. Saur Verlag in collaboration with the Archiv der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDR im Bundesarchiv. Mikrofiche-Edition unter Verwendung der Bibliographie der Tarnschriften 1933 bis 1945 von Heinz Gittig. München: K. G. Saur 1997

The sources were first published online in these databases:
Deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jh.: Nationalsozialismus, Holocaust, Widerstand und Exil 1933–1945 Online, De Gruyter/K. G. Saur (2006–2022)

• An unique source to study the resistance in NS Germany and so-called Grey Literature
• The database contains about 1,000 camouflaged writings
• Supplements the databases Stimmungs- und Lageberichte and Widerstand als “Hochverrat”
• The camouflaged texts are digitalized as facsimiles with bibliographical information
• Non-restrictive DRM – allows for an unlimited number of simultaneous users campus- / institution-wide

Editors of the first edition in Deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jh.

Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Bundesarchiv, and Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung

and

Deutsches Exilarchiv 1933–1945 der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek • Stiftung „Neue Synagoge Berlin – Centrum Judaicum“ • Gedenkstätte „Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz“ • Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. • Riga-Komitee der deutschen Städte • Research Foundation for Jewish Immigration • Herbert und Elsbeth Weichmann-Stiftung • Heinz Boberach • Wolfgang Form • Wolfgang Neugebauer • Theo Schiller • Sabine Gillmann • Hans Mommsen • Harald Hagemann • Claus-Dieter Krohn • Michael Hepp • Ulrike Wendland

Editorial Board

Wolfgang Benz, Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung • Brita Eckert, Deutsches Exilarchiv 1933–1945 der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek • Josef Henke, Bundesarchiv • Peter Longerich, Research Centre for the Holocaust and Twentieth-Century History, London • Elisabeth Niggemann, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek • Hermann Rumschöttel, Staatliche Archive Bayerns • Udo Wengst, Institut für Zeitgeschichte

First edition

Deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jh.: Nationalsozialismus, Holocaust, Widerstand und Exil 1933–1945 Online, De Gruyter/K. G. Saur (2006–2022)

Here you will find instructions for searching in the Tarnschriften 1933 bis 1945 and explanations of the individual search functions.

Search

You have three different options for searching.

Search form

The search form allows you to search using various search criteria. To do so, select the appropriate criterion in the search field and enter your search term(s) in the search field. The following search criteria are available:

1. Full Text: Searches in all entries for the entered terms. Finds all entries that contain all searched terms and therefore returns the most results. For a more specific search, the other search criteria are more suitable.
   
   The following operators can be used in the search field:
• *: Added to a string. Searches for entries including all terms that match the searched string with any addition.
• AND: Searches for entries including all the terms connected by this operator (default search function).
• OR: Searches for entries including at least one of the terms connected by this operator.
• NOT: Searches for entries including the first, but not the second of the terms connected by this operator.

These operators can be combined with each other.

2. Title: Finds all entries whose titles contain all searched terms. This search criterion can be used to search specifically for entries for particular terms. Search with truncation does not work at the moment.
3. Person: Finds all entries that contain the searched person. Suggests up to 15 matching persons in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries in which specific persons are mentioned.
4. Author: Finds all entries with authors of the searched name. Suggests up to 15 matching author names in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries by specific authors.
5. Type: Select a type from the drop-down menu: Abkürzungsverzeichnis, Artikel, Index, Tarnschrift. Finds all entries of this type.
6. Publication Year: Select Exact to search for a single year, or Range to search for a range of years. Finds all entries that have been published electronically in this year or range of years.
7. Periodical/Series: Finds all entries that are assigned to the searched periodicals/series. This search criterion can be used to search for entries that have been published in specific periodicals/series.
8. Place: Finds all entries which contain the searched place. Suggests up to 15 matching places in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries in which specific locations are mentioned.
9. Entry language: Select a language from the drop-down menu. Finds all entries which are written in this language. Only German language is available for TARNS.

Please note: The search is not case sensitive.

You have the option to apply several search criteria at the same time. To do this, click on "Add row" in the search form. This creates a second search field in which you can set another search criterion (or else the same one). You can create as many additional search fields as you like.
If you use more than one search field, the search will find all entries that match all search criteria ("Search for all of these terms"). Instead, you can also select "Search for any of these terms" above the search fields, which will cause the search to find all entries that match at least one of the searched criteria.
By clicking on "Add NOT" you create a search field to which you can assign a search criterion. Terms entered in this search field will be excluded from the search. You can add this search field as often as you like.
By combining the above functions, you are able to perform very specific searches.

Example

You want to search the Tarnschriften 1933 bis 1945 for all entries that mention the word "Religion" and that match the type “Tarnschrift”. However, you want to exclude entries that mention the person “Dimitroff, Georgi” from the search. For this you use the search form as follows:

1. Create a second search field via "Add row".
2. Select the search for "all of these terms" (default option).
3. In the first search field, select the search criterion Full Text and enter the search term "Religion".
4. In the second search field, select the search criterion Type and select “Tarnschrift” in the dropdown menu of the search field.
5. Create a third search field via "Add NOT". This is marked with a "NOT".
6. Select the search criterion Person in this search field and and enter “Dimitroff, Georgi”.
7. After clicking on "Search" you will see 10 out of 140 hits in the results list.

Browse

The browse button allows you to quickly search for the search criterion „Erläuternde Materialien“, „Quellen“ and „Register“.. The results list of a browse search can be further searched via the search form as described above.

A-Z

On the start page of the database you can view indices of all contained persons and places from A to Z. By clicking on a term you get to the results list, which shows all entries that contain the place or person. In case of a lemma the results list shows all entries which have the full lemma in their title.

Results list

The results that match your search are listed on one or more pages. The number of search results as well as the search criteria can be found above the results list.

Each search result consists of the title of the entry, author(s) if existent, access information, entry type, online publication date (print publication date in brackets, if applicable), the cover of the database as well as a button to download the PDF ("Download PDF"), if available, and a text preview showing relevant text passages and highlighting the searched term in yellow (only for Full Text search criterion).

You can access a search result by clicking on the title or cover of the database. If you do not have access to the database, please log in first.

The search results are sorted by relevancy (frequency and weighting of the searched terms). You can also sort by date ("New to old" or "Old to new") or by title ("A to Z" or "Z to A").
Furthermore, instead of the default 10 results per page, you can also display 20, 50 or 100 results per page.

The search results can be further restricted under "Filter Results". Various filter options are available for this:

1. Access: This option filters the search results according to who can access them. By default, "All content" is found. It is possible to filter by "Licensed content", "Open Access", "Publicly available" as well as "All available content".
2. Person
3. Type
4. Publication Year
5. Place
6. Entry language

All filters can be combined with each other. Filtering by certain filter options excludes further certain filter options if there are no entries which match both options.