Directives

Top-down orders that shaped the course of World War II. This category features original directives, decrees, internal memos, and high-level instructions issued by military commands, intelligence agencies, governments, and occupying forces. These documents reveal the strategic thinking, bureaucratic control, and operational mechanics behind the war’s most decisive actions.

From battlefield commands and occupation policies to secret police orders and administrative regulations, these materials expose how power was exercised—often ruthlessly—through the written word. Many of these directives were classified at the time, and now serve as critical evidence of intent, coordination, and chain of command.

Essential for researchers, analysts, and historians, this collection sheds light on the machinery of wartime governance and the decisions—both routine and catastrophic—that shaped the fate of millions.