Oral history in research into the most recent political history – a few reflections (on two examples)

Abstract

The start point of the article are two of the author’s experiences with oral sources. The first represented in total several dozen hours of recordings of the narratives of a dozen members of the underground Independent Students’ Association at Warsaw University in the years 1982–1989. In turn, the second was an unexpected “confession” of Edmund Łebek, an officer of the Security Services. Using these examples, the author provides a number of insights connected with the application of oral history in research into the recent history of Polish politics. The confluence of concrete research work and the methodology of oral history allows the researcher to achieve the advantages and dangers connected with the application of this type of source.

Keywords

• oral history
• independent students' association
• security services
• methodology of history