„Post-testimony”. A tanúságtétel helye a soá történeti elbeszélésében
“Post-testimony”: The Place of Witness in the Historical Narration of the Shoah

Summary/Abstract: For a long time, the analysis of survivors’ testimonies did not find its way into historical writing. When it did, these testimonies were often used merely as illustrations of victims’ personal experiences within the Grand Narrative of historians. Over the past 20 years, however, with the opening of several digital oral history archives, these testimonies have become regular sources for historians. Additionally, the memory culture of the Shoah has fundamentally changed in the West since 1989, with the most significant change being the widespread introduction of the concept of trauma. It is widely recognised in psychological and sociological research on Holocaust testimonies and other ego documents that specific analytical methods are required for digital collections. However, Holocaust historians working with these sources have rarely applied such methods. This paper proposes sociological techniques for using and interpreting personal accounts in historical writing. It also examines the historical use of large testimony collections, drawing on current case studies of the Holocaust in Hungary.

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