Unlocking History: A Guide to Primary Sources for Spanish Civil War and WWII Research

Finding Primary Sources for Historical Research: A Guide to Spanish Civil War and WWII Archives Researchers seeking primary sources for the Spanish Civil War and World War II often face significant challenges. This article explores the best resources available, based on insights from a recent video by Achoelmurciano. For the Spanish Civil War, the video highlights the importance of visiting physical archives. The author recommends checking the military archives in Ávila and Guadalajara, or the Memory of Democracy. However, he notes that much of the relevant material remains undigitized. For World War II, the author points towards the National Archives and Arolsen Archives as valuable resources. He emphasizes that while the National Archives offers a vast amount of digitized material, accessing information requires careful searching due to the lack of a robust search engine. The author's experience underscores the difficulties in online research for primary historical sources. While online archives are helpful, physical archives remain crucial for comprehensive research. This highlights the need for continued digitization efforts to improve access to historical materials.