News
20.08.2025
Interview: “Remembrance and Democracy”
How can witnesses of a time period be used for historical education?
Dr. Christiane Bertram conducted interviews with contemporary witnesses in East and West Germany for her “Generation Project” on post-war German history. The education researcher is investigating how these oral history sources can be used to promote our culture of remembrance and to support a better understanding of history—in schools, but also in adult education. At the beginning of October, she is organizing the “Day of Contemporary Witnesses 2025” in Tübingen under the motto “Remembrance and Democracy.” In an interview for Uni Tübingen aktuell, she talks about the role of historical thinking and understanding of history for our democracy.
Further Information:
Day of Contemporary Witnesses 2025 (in German)
- Generation Portal
The videos from both oral history projects, “Generation 1975: Entering the New Germany at Age 14” and “Generation Wall Construction,” are available for free use on the “Generations Portal.” Here you will also find the teaching units that have been developed based on the generational interviews. The Generations Portal is a service offered on the state education server of the Center for School Quality and Teacher Training (ZSL) in Baden-Württemberg. To the “Generationenportal” (in German)
- German Memory Archive
The life story interviews are available to researchers on the “German Memory Archive.” Archiv Deutsches Gedächtnis
- Traveling Exhibition
The exhibition “Connecting Generations” will start in fall 2025 and will be shown in small and large cities in eastern and western Germany. The exhibition is largely financed by the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. The Berlin Wall Foundation and the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial are cooperation partners in this project.
Media Contact
Rebecca Beiter
presse@lead.uni-tuebingen.de