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Research Guides

War and Occupation in Northern Europe (SCAND 445/590 - JSIS A 442): Find books in UW Libraries Search

Finding Books

Generally, the best way to find books and e-books is to use UW Libraries Search. Searching will locate books in both the UW Libraries and in our partner libraries in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. After logging in with your UW NetID, you can request print books for pickup at a circulation desk, or access e-books directly in your web browser.

Default search: The default search (Any field in the drop-down box) will search everywhere in the item's catalog record: title, author, subject, abstract/summary and contents listing. General keyword searches can be useful with the default search, but can also result in an overwhelming number of results.

Subject search: It may be helpful to restrict your search to only the assigned subject terms (Subject in the drop-down box) to narrow your search to the most relevant books. These are specific terms assigned by catalogers to uniformly describe the subject of the resource. See the subject terms below for suggestions; especially note that the terms for wars and particular genres of writing can be specific and not necessarily intuitive.

Words not used in the catalog as subject terms may not find books using a Subject search, but can still be useful if the words appear in the title, summary, or contents (chapter titles) of the book. Some examples of keywords that do not appear as subject terms in the catalog may include the following; use the default Any field in the drop-down menu with such terms.

  • autobiographical
  • diary or diaries
  • "Forest Brothers"
  • memoir or memoirs

Suggested Subject Terms

All of the terms below are used as subject terms in UW Libraries Search. Use them in combination with geographic terms, terms for wars, terms for types of literature, etc.

  • aerial operations
  • anti-communist movements
  • anti-Nazi movement
  • antisemitism
  • armed forces
  • atrocities
  • campaigns
  • civilian relief
    • civilian war relief
  • collaboration
  • collective memory
  • concentration camps
  • cryptography
  • deportations
  • destruction and pillage
  • diplomatic history
  • diplomatic relations
  • espionage
  • ethnicity
    • ethnic relations
  • forced labor
  • foreign relations
  • guerrilla warfare
  • historiography
  • Holocaust
  • insurgency
  • intelligence service
  • Jewish resistance
  • labor camps
  • literature and the war
  • mass murder
  • merchant marine
  • military operations
  • national liberation movements
  • naval operations
  • neutrality
  • occupied territories
  • persecutions
    • political persecution
  • railroads
    • transportation
  • regimental histories
  • repatriation
    • forced repatriation
  • resistance
  • sabotage
  • social conditions
  • underground movements
  • winter warfare

Subject Terms for People

Terms for groups of people can be very helpful in combination with other terms. Think of professions, religious groups, categories of fighters, etc. Also use proper names of individuals in subject searches to find materials about that person.

  • Collaborationists
    • Children of collaborationists
  • Deportees
    • ​​​​​​​Deported children
  • Disappeared persons
  • Exiles
  • Guerrillas
    • ​​​​​​​Guerrilla warfare
    • Child guerrillas
    • ​​​​​​​Women guerrillas
  • Holocaust survivors
  • Jewish refugees
  • Jews
  • Merchant mariners
  • Nazi concentration camp inmates
    • ​​​​​​​Child Nazi concentration camp inmates
    • Ex-Nazi concentration camp inmates
    • Women Nazi concentration camp inmates
  • officers
  • physicians
  • pilots
  • Prisoners
    • Political prisoners
    • Prisoners of war
  • refugees
  • righteous gentiles
  • soldiers
  • spies
  • veterans
  • women
  • women guerrillas

Geographic Subject Terms

Use broader subject terms like Baltic States or Scandinavia to widen your search. Be mindful of differences between, for example, Russia and the Soviet Union.

  • Baltic States
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Europe, Northern
  • Norway
  • Russia
  • Scandinavia
  • Soviet Union
  • Sweden

Subject Terms for Wars, Occupations, Events

Subject terms for wars and historical periods in library catalogs are specific and can be non-intuitive.

Baltic States

  • Baltic States—History—Soviet occupation, 1939-1941
  • Baltic States—History—German occupation, 1941-1944
  • World War, 1939-1945—Deportations from the Baltic States

Denmark

  • Denmark—History—German occupation, 1940-1945
  • World War, 1939-1945—Deportations from Denmark

Estonia

  • Estonia—History—Soviet occupation, 1940-1941
  • Estonia—History—German occupation, 1941-1944
  • World War, 1939-1945—Deportations from Estonia

Finland

  • Finland—History—1939-1945
  • Russo-Finnish War, 1939-1940
  • Continuation War 1941-1944
  • World War, 1939-1945—Deportations from Finland

Latvia

  • Latvia—History—Soviet occupation, 1940-1941
  • Latvia—History—German occupation, 1941-1944
  • World War, 1939-1945—Deportations from Latvia

Lithuania

  • Lithuania—History—Soviet occupation, 1940-1941
  • Lithuania—History—German occupation, 1941-1944
  • World War, 1939-1945—Deportations from Lithuania

Norway

  • Norway—History—German occupation, 1940-1945

Sweden

  • Sweden—History—Gustav V, 1907-1950
  • World War, 1939-1945—Deportations from Sweden

other

  • Jews—Rescue, 1939-1945
  • World War 1939-1945 (use instead of World War II)

Source Type Subject Terms

It may be important to specify the type of literature or material you are looking for. Terms used in the catalog may not be intuitive; for example, "diaries" and "autobiographies" are common types of book that may be captured by different terms.

  • Biography
  • Drama
  • Feature films or Motion pictures
  • Fiction
  • Interviews
  • Juvenile (e.g. juvenile fiction, non-fiction books for children, etc.; use instead of children)
  • Personal narratives (use instead of diaries, memoirs, etc.)
  • Poetry