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Backgrounds

What can tes­ti­mo­nies tell us as his­to­ri­cal mate­ri­al? What is their spe­ci­fic value when recon­s­truc­ting sto­ries of per­se­cu­ti­on or in edu­ca­tio­nal work? And how can his­to­ri­cal sources be ana­ly­sed and inter­pre­ted? The­se and other ques­ti­ons are explo­red by mem­bers of the edi­to­ri­al team and guest aut­hors in the back­grounds section.

The basics of working with historical sources

What are sources? Sources are “all texts, objects or facts from which know­ledge of the past can be gained.”1 This is Paul Kirn’s much-quo­­ted defi­ni­ti­on of what his­to­ri­cal sources are. His­to­ri­ans the­r­e­fo­re defi­ne sources as all evi­dence of human activity […]

Why and how to work with testimonies?

Why work with tes­ti­mo­nies of per­se­cu­ted peo­p­le? To this day, the histo­ry of per­se­cu­ti­on pro­ces­ses of all kinds is often recon­s­truc­ted main­ly through sources left behind by per­pe­tra­tors. Inde­ed, the­se docu­ments can pro­vi­de a deep insight into the plan­ning and execution […]

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