    A guide to conducting a life story narration interview in oral historyDr. Alena Wagner (Head of the Oral History Team) A life story narration interview is a detailed account of a person's course of life and experience, which means that the interviewee is supposed to narrate his entire life story. The interviewer listens and enters the flow of narration by asking directional questions ; at the same time he or she represents the public. A life story narration interview is a meeting of two people: the interviewee and the interviewer. There must be interaction between the two of them as this interview is always giving and taking on both parts. A line from a poem by Karel Kraus - "Listen to me - then I will find my words" - describes the relation between them the best. Listening well and sensitively is a great stimulus for the narration. For that reason it is important that the interviewer be a good listener who can perceive a lot of detail and possibly even hidden allusions and ask about them if need be. The interview also requires mutual openness, trust as well as the interviewer's discretion. These are the core elements of an ethical life story narration interview. The interviewer's own opinions and attitudes are not desirable, so he or she should restrain from any comments even though the narrator is wrong about what happened, e.g. gives an incorrect date or year of an event, the only exception being when the interviewee is not sure and asks directly. The primary task of such an interview is not to find the truth about the historical period the life story teller lived through. It is to give a subjective account of the events and mainly of how they affected his or her life. It is to find out what relations there were between the political turns which comprise "general history" and the specific effects they had on the interviewee's individual life. Our project focuses on the life stories of German antifascists who lived in the Czechoslovak borderland before the Second World War, i.e. of the people (or their parents) whose positions were clearly defined by their antagonism towards the Henlein movement and National Socialists. This focus has been the foundation of the guide to conducting these interviews that you will find below. It mainly consists of questions related to their perception of the period between 1930 and 1945. Of course, that does not mean that the interviewer should avoid questions about other aspects of their lives as we want to record them in their full complexity. At the interview, it is important that the narrator be allowed to talk as freely as possible, meaning that the interviewer should not interrupt the flow of narration by asking questions or by interfering. When the storytelling gets stuck (not everyone can narrate fluently), the interlocutor ought to help with prompt questions, such as "What happened next?" or "How did you perceive that?". If there is a need for prompt questions at the very beginning of the interview, they have to be formulated neutrally without any suggestive hints. Methodologically, a life story narration interview consists of three parts. In the first part, after explaining the main focus and purpose, the interviewer is supposed to let the storyteller talk about his or her life as freely as possible. The record of the interview has to be complemented by a biogram and the reporter's entry. The biogram is an entry into the database and provides information about the interviewee's (or his or her parents') life story in the form of a table. Most story tellers are people who experienced or actively took part in the events in question when they were teenagers or children (born approximately between 1918 and 1930) and their parents (born approximately between 1880 and 1910) were active antifascists. If that is the case, it is necessary to fill in two biograms: one for the parents and the other for children. The reporter's entry then contains the circumstances in which the interview took place and its overall atmosphere. It also includes a list of documents the family has preserved and a description of the interviewee's lifestyle and of the manner in which the life story was narrated. A guide to conducting the interviewIt is recommended to start the interview from the narrator's childhood, because this usually triggers a spontaneous stream of memories and narration. So the introductory question might sound like this: "We are interested in the life stories of German antifascists and democrats in Czechoslovakia. I would like to ask you to tell me about your life, about anything that comes into your mind in this context and that you consider important. Perhaps it will be better if we start with your childhood. Where and when were you born and what family into?" Roots and family background Who were your grandparents? - W here and when were they born? What did they do? Were they politically active? Family relations? The period between 1933 and 1939 In late January 1933, Hitler seized power in Germany - Did anything change in your village/town and namely in your life? Was it important for your family? What were the reactions of your parents and in your environs? 1939-1945/46 WW2. How did you, your parents and siblings live through the War? Close: Questions about the interviewee's and his parents' personal data (if possible)      
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