Kommunikative Gedachtnisse als Quellen Einsatzmoglichkeiten von Memory Studies in unterdokumentierten historischen Kontexten am Beispiel des Familiengedachtnisses

Abstract

In her article, Lisa Haberkern discusses the conclusions of the research whose aim was to reconstruct the memory relating to the inmates of so-called post-war labor camps in Upper Silesia on the basis of the accounts of their family members. She has studied materials relating to the Zgoda labor camp in Świętochłowice, whose history is well documented. Haberkern focuses on the limitations that a historian encounters when researching “oral history” sources. The fact of discrepancies in collective memory is well-known, but it is important not only to be aware of this fact, but to use it in historical research. In order to reconstruct the historical facts stored in the memory of an individual, it is necessary first to reconstruct that person’s way of seeing the past by taking into account the features of the place and of the period. The unreliability and changeableness of memory prevent uncritical acceptance of accounts about past events which a researcher may extract from it. For this reason, the establishing of historical facts on the basis of oral history must always be preceded by a reconstruction of the historical contexts in which the memory of those facts was formed.