Archiv "Deutsches Gedächtnis"

The ‘Deutsches Gedächtnis’ archive is the research data centre of the Institute for History and Biography at the FernUniversität in Hagen. It archives all interviews conducted since the early 1980s as part of contemporary history research and documentation projects at the Institute for History and Biography. In addition, collections of interviews from third-party research are incorporated. The archive is constantly growing through the Institute’s own projects, the incorporation of older collections from third parties, and support for ongoing external projects. The interviews are life-history, narrative interviews in the style of oral history. They were conducted as part of contemporary history research projects as well as projects in qualitative sociological biographical research. They relate to socio-political events in Germany or to German history. The interviews originate predominantly from within Germany, but also from abroad, and are mainly in German; one in five interviews is in another language. The interviews are made available for research, teaching and education in the form of audio or video recordings, transcripts, minutes/memos and short biographies, as well as information on the context of the research. A large proportion of the interviews are accessible online following registration and login. Researchers can search using full-text search and filter options.