Läti 20. sajandi ajaloo allikad: suulise ajaloo allikate ja arhiividokumentide dialoog
History of Latvia in the Twentieth-Century as Reflected in Historical Sources: Dialogue between Oral History and Archival Records

Summary/Abstract: The article explicates the need to use oral history sources together with other types of sources in the study of the history of Latvia in the 20th century, to discover facts that have been kept concealed so far, and to render the view of the past in a more accurate and versatile manner. Oral history sources are the only ones that enable us to attempt to reconstruct from the contemporary perspective how people who took part in historical events provided motivation, justification, and explanation for their behaviour in different situations. The author observes a situation described in archival records and in the life stories of two women, a mother and a daughter, living in eastern Latvia. The central event of both stories is the deportation that took place on 25 March, 1949. This article is based on an analysis of problems encountered when compiling the collection The Voices of the Deported, 25 March 1949: The fate of some deported families from Daugavpils and Ilū kste districts in oral history sources and archival documents. The information from oral history sources supplements, clarifies, and sometimes contests the archival documents; the use of oral history sources gives a clearer view of the contrast between the official and the individual perception of the same facts. Relying on the author’s experience in preparing a source publication, the article deals with the legal and ethical problems related with the complex publication of archival documents and oral sources, and the issues connected with the archaeography of sources.

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