Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology

Empirical research on Eyewitness Interviews

Eyewitness interviews in history lessons

Eyewitness interviews in history lessons are popular for bringing the past closer to students. However, students occasionally believe eyewitnesses more than textbooks or written sources, as the eyewitnesses "were there." Eyewitnesses are therefore exciting for history lessons but also risky.

In several studies, we examine the effectiveness of eyewitness interviews in history lessons. The BMBF-funded dissertation project by Christiane Bertram on "Opportunities and Risks of Eyewitness Interviews in History Lessons" served as the starting point for two subsequent projects: Dr. Lisa Zachrich, in her dissertation within the LEAD context, explored the unique learning experience with eyewitnesses and developed an instrument to standardize the assessment of students' experiences during encounters with eyewitnesses. This instrument was employed in another large-scale randomized field study (RCT), the DFG-funded Eyewitness Study, in which trained teachers worked with live and video eyewitnesses in a lesson unit on German-German perspectives. We expect these studies to provide important insights into the mechanisms of working with eyewitnesses.

Generations Projects: Video Interviews with Eyewitnesses 

Christiane Bertram conducted two oral history projects to commemorate German-German relations (the so-called "Generations Projects"), in which people born in 1975 and 1961 in East and West Germany were interviewed in life history video interviews (see, for example, the trailer for the "Generation 1975"). The interviews are used in research and teaching. For example, eyewitnesses from the "Generation 1975" were involved in the DFG Eyewitness Study. The videos, along with teaching materials, are available for free use on the "Generationenportal" of the Baden-Württemberg State Education Server.

In the ongoing project "Generations Remember," the videos of the "Generation Wall Construction" are being transcribed and prepared for use in the classroom. Further projects and exhibitions are planned, in which the material from the "Generations" studies will be implemented.

Save the date!

We cordially invite you to the "Day of Eyewitnesses" on October 1st and 2nd, 2025, at the Old Auditorium of the University of Tübingen, under the theme "Memory and Democracy."

Renowned experts in German-German discourse, such as Prof. Dr. Detlef Pollack (Sociology of Religion), Prof. Dr. Monika Oberle (Political Didactics), Prof. Dr. Christina Morina (Contemporary History), Prof. Dr. Dirk Oschmann (Literary Studies), and Dr. Anna Lux (History and Sociology), will engage in discussions with educators and multipliers of historical-political education. The event is mandatory as a "State Specialist Day" for trainers in Baden-Württemberg and is recognized as teacher training by the Center for School Quality and Teacher Education (ZSL).

Dissertation project (2011-2017): RCT on the Opportunities and Risks of Eyewitness Interviews

The aim of the study was to identify ways in which the didactic tool of eyewitness interviews can be used in history lessons to maximize the opportunities (e.g., sparking historical interest) while minimizing the risks (e.g., uncritical handling of the supposedly authentic source).

To this end, the effects of three interventions with eyewitnesses on the topic of the "Peaceful Revolution in the GDR" were compared across a total of 35 ninth-grade classes in high schools in Baden-Württemberg: Ten classes each worked with either a live eyewitness, video clips, or transcripts of an eyewitness interview, while five classes were taught without any eyewitnesses. The study examined the effects of working with eyewitnesses on the promotion of historical competencies, the acquisition of factual knowledge, and interest in history.

Results:

  • In four out of five performance tests, the three treatment groups performed better than the control group.
  • Disadvantages of the live group in learning outcomes and advantages in motivational outcomes compared to the video and text groups.
  • Comprehensive monograph on the opportunities and risks of eyewitness interviews in history lessons.

Key Publication on the Study:

Bertram, C., Wagner, W., & Trautwein, U. (2017). Learning historical thinking with oral history interviews. A cluster randomized controlled intervention study of oral history interviews in history lessons. American Educational Research Journal, 54(3), 444-484. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217694833

PhD Project (2017-2022) on the Unique Learning Experience with Eyewitnesses

The results of the Eyewitness Study on opportunities and risks indicated that encounters with live eyewitnesses represent a complex learning experience that affects students' acquisition of competencies in historical thinking. In her doctoral project, Dr. Lisa Zachrich explored the question of what constitutes the "unique" aspect of these encounters with eyewitnesses. Based on a theory-driven framework model, she developed a standardized measurement instrument to empirically capture the potential cognitive, emotional, and physical responses to encounters with eyewitnesses, as well as the perceived authenticity.

Dissertation: Zachrich, L. (2022). Empirical educational research meets history didactics: An investigation of learning processes in learning arrangements with eyewitness accounts (Dissertation). University of Tübingen. https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/133894/Dissertation_Zachrich_Ver%C3%B6ffentlichung.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 

DFG Eyewitness Study (2022-present): RCT on the Effectiveness of an Optimized Teaching Unit with Eyewitnesses

Based on insights from the study on the opportunities and risks of eyewitness interviews, we have adjusted two key aspects of integrating eyewitnesses into teaching in a new large-scale instructional study. Two eyewitnesses with different perspectives were intended to show students that there is often more than one perspective on a historical topic, and therefore, statements must be assessed for their empirical plausibility. Additionally, the focus was on reports about "everyday life" to reduce the risk of students being overwhelmed by the eyewitness accounts.

In collaboration with the Center for School Quality and Teacher Education Baden-Württemberg (ZSL), we developed a teaching unit where students either work with statements from two eyewitnesses live in the classroom or through a video compilation. For the topic of the transformation period after 1989/90, both a Western and an Eastern perspective were presented side by side. To capture the effects of the intervention under as realistic conditions as possible, a total of 50 teachers with their own classes (1,301 students) participated. They were randomly assigned to either teach the unit (with a live visit or with a video from two eyewitnesses) or to the control group following the curriculum without eyewitnesses. The analyses have been extensively preregistered.

Video Interview Project "Generation 1975"

In the video interview project "Generation 1975: At 14 in the New Germany," approximately three-hour-long oral history interviews were conducted with 26 eyewitnesses from East and West Germany about their memories of divided and reunited Germany. This generation, which has previously received little attention, as well as the reciprocal view of one’s own and the other’s societal system, opens up new topics and target groups for the field of German-German division history. The life history interviews are utilized in research and teaching and are available to researchers on the "Archiv Deutsches Gedächtnis." The Berlin Wall Foundation created a video installation from the material, which was exhibited 30 years after reunification from October 2020 to August 2021 at the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart and at the "Erinnerungsstätte Marienfelde" in Berlin until October 2021. Additionally, the videos have been used in the teaching offerings at the University of Konstanz, in academic theses, as well as in the DFG Eyewitness Study and experimental studies. The oral history video interviews are currently being analyzed with qualitative methods concerning idealtypical narrative styles in East and West.

Funding: Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship

Collaborations:

Interview Project with Eyewitnesses of the „Generation Mauerbau"

In the second interview project, 60 years after the construction of the Berlin Wall, eyewitnesses from Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, East Berlin, and West Berlin were interviewed about their memories of a divided and reunited Germany. The videos expand the source corpus and are used in artistic video installations both analog and digital. Particularly interesting: the interviews with the "Generation 1975" were conducted in 2019, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when, especially in Baden-Württemberg, the world seemed to be (still) in order: “Our generation never experienced a crisis,” said an eyewitness from the “Generation 1975.” In the study with the “Generation Wall Construction,” we therefore particularly explored perceptions of current political crises (COVID-19 crisis, climate crisis, democracy crisis) in the West and East: How are these crises experienced and managed against the backdrop of differing life experiences?

View Trailer

Funding: Funded by the project "Gemeinsinn: What Opposes It and How We Can Promote It" by Dr. Christiane Bertram, Prof. em. Dr. Aleida Assmann, and Prof. Dr. Jan Assmann at the University of Konstanz

Collaborations: