I’ll admit it, I research, and read books and articles about Nazis and the Third Reich. Recently I read Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael Dobbs. It is a thoroughly researched and well-written book. I wondered how much information I could find on this topic on the Internet if I wanted to write a research paper. A lot, that’s what I found. Caveat: I read the book first so I had knowledge of the subject. I’ll give you a list of what I found. First I Googled Nazi saboteurs and was surprised with the quality of the results. What I found:
Wikipedia—Operation Pastorius. This was the name for the failed plan for attacks on American infrastructure by Nazi Saboteurs. I think there were one or two errors in this account, but the reference list is very valuable for research. Remember, Wikipedia can edited by users, who may not always have good intentions.
Cornell University Law School. The Wikipedia article led me to Cornell University for the 26 page ExParte Quirin Supreme Court decision denying the saboteurs’ request for a writ of habeas corpus. This is a primary source.
FBI—Famous Cases: George John Dasch and the Nazi Saboteurs. This is the FBI’s somewhat inaccurate account of the case in which they took all the credit for solving. There are pictures of the saboteurs and their equipment.
Library of Congress—Military Legal Resources: Nazi Saboteurs Trial, Washington, D.C., 1942. This is a short account of the saboteurs’ trial, including the Supreme Court decision.
University of Minnesota—The Saboteurs. The complete transcript (2,967 pages) of the Nazi Saboteur Military Commission. A primary source, very valuable for a research paper.
HistoryNet.com—World War II: German Saboteurs Invade America in 1942. This is a fairly accurate rendition of their failure in America.
Ezine.com—A Place in Florida—Nazi Saboteurs Landed Here. Gene Ingle wrote about the Nazi saboteurs who landed at Ponte Vedra Beach.
Jewish Virtual Library—White House Statement on the Sentence of Nazi Saboteurs, August 8, 1942. Another primary source is FDR’s statement allowing the saboteurs’ executions to take place.
JSTOR—The American Political Science Review, Vol. 36, No. 6(Dec.,1942),The Case of the Nazi Saboteurs, by Robert E. Cushman. This was a great find, but only the first page was on the website. It is in JSTOR, an academic journal. I was able to retrieve the article from our public library’s JSTOR subscription on the library’s website.
I also found reviews of two books: Nazi Saboteurs on Trial: A Military Tribunal and American Law, by Louis Fisher, and Betrayal: The True Story of J. Edgar Hoover and the Nazi Saboteurs by David Alan Johnson.
You may have noticed that there is some controversy regarding President Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Supreme Court regarding the Federal Government’s handling of this case. Despite their extensive training in Germany, the Nazis were more like the Keystone Kops and bungled everything they tried except buying new clothes, staying in expensive hotels, and eating in fancy restaurants.
There were four more sites that contained quality resources, including primary sources. If you want to use the Internet for research, first go to the library, read a good encyclopedia article or book about your subject. Check the references for sources, and then Google your subject. You may be rewarded with a cornucopia of riches, in this case quality research resources.
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