> COH > Oral history

Oral history is a qualitative research method and is one of the various methods of historical research. It is crucial for research on subjects for which documentary sources have been destroyed or are unavailable for various reasons; in these cases, oral testimony usually represents the only source of information about a certain historical event. Oral history is therefore a particularly important tool for researching societies during totalitarian regimes, when a plurality of historical sources didn't exist and the majority of documentation was of state or party provenience, which moreover only recorded those events that their authors considered important. During periods of regime change, both disintegrating and emergent institutions usually don't take too much care to secure and archive the documents they have produced. Some key historical events aren't captured in written documents at all. The memories and testimonies of participants contribute to filling in these gaps by helping to broaden our factual knowledge about events and, in combination with other historical sources, enabling a historical analysis of these facts. However, the main priority of oral history is not the collection of information about a historical event – it is the narrator himself and his individual story, his emotions, the decisions he made in complicated and everyday situations, his personal motivations, and so on.

> Literature

> Links

> On-line Materials