- Creator
- Padover, Saul Kussiel, 1905-1981
- Call number
- MssCol 2325
- Physical description
- 2 linear feet (1 box); 1 microfilm reel
- Preferred Citation
- Saul K. Padover papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Manuscripts and Archives Division
- Access to materials
- Request an in-person research appointment.
Saul Kussiel Padover (1905-1981), historian and teacher, was born in Austria but came to the U.S. in 1920. He was a prolific author including among his subjects Thomas Jefferson and Karl Marx. From 1938 to 1943 he served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior and did intelligence work in Europe during World War II. Later he taught American political history at the New School in New York City. Collection consists of materials generated in Germany from October 1944 through May 1945 by Padover and two colleagues, Lewis Gittler and Paul Sweet. They were members of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) attached to the U.S. Army. Papers contain copies of psychological and political profiles based on interviews with Nazi party members, workers, industrialists, radicals, government officials, former prisoners in concentration camps, children, and others. Also included are analyses of conditions in the liberated areas, daily summaries of intelligence and political reports, personal journals kept by Padover with reflections on conditions in Germany in the final days of World War II and on-the-spot descriptions of death camps, a few photographs, typescripts of articles by Padover and Gittler, newsclippings from American newspapers, and some memorabilia.
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
Gift, Padover, Saul K, 1947Key terms
Names
Subjects
- Concentration camps -- Europe
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
- Intelligence service
- Military intelligence
- Political crimes and offenses
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps
Places
- Germany -- History -- 1933-1945
- Germany -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945
- United States -- History -- 1933-1945
Occupations
Material types
Using the collection
Location
Manuscripts and Archives DivisionStephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Alternative form available
Entire collection available on microfilm; New York Public Library