The Freie Universität Berlin has been using the digital interview archive in research and teaching since winter 2008. Here are some highlights:

• Advanced seminar titled “Zwangsarbeit und Oral History. Grundlagen und praktische Übungen“ (Forced Labor and Oral History. Principles and Practical Exercises) as well as a colloquium offered by the Chair for the History of Eastern Central Europe at the Institute of Eastern European Studies
• Guest lecture by Irina Scherbakova: "Zwangsarbeit und Oral History, Teil I: Die Gesellschaft Memorial" (Forced Labor and Oral History, Part I: The Memorial Society) more (in German) »
• Guest lecture by Piotr Filipkowski: "Zwangsarbeit und Oral History, Teil II: Das Zentrum KARTA" (Forced Labor and Oral History, Part II: The KARTA Center) more (in German) »
• Practical report on the project “Documentation of Biographical Interviews with Former Slave and Forced Laborers” (FernUniversität, University of Hagen) with Gisela Wenzel and Ewa Czerwiakowski (Berlin History Workshop e.V., Interview Project Poland – BGW Berlin)
• In addition, the Institute for Eastern European Studies organized the International Summer University “Forced Labor 1939-1945. Memory and History” in the summer of 2009. The program was administered by the department for the History of East Central Europe led by Prof. Dr. Gertrud Pickhan in cooperation with “Memorial” (Moscow) and the “KARTA Center” (Warsaw). A total of 30 students and doctoral candidates of history and social sciences from Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Mongolia and Japan participated. In addition to presentations and an accompanying program on Nazi forced labor and oral history, the participants were able to gain insight into working with digital archives and academic research involving contemporary witness interviews. more in German (pdf) »
• Workshop “History Turns Digital” at the Institute for Eastern European Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, April 2010. Discussions centered on how the internet changes historical research, dissemination and memorial cultures. more in German (pdf) »
• Summer term 2011: The intensive course "Europe 1900-1950" of the History Department at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, works with English-language interviews in the online archive "Forced Labor 1939-1945". About 20 students of differents branches analyzed the interviews and improved their understanding of narrations in life story interviews.
• August 2011: The Online Archive is presented and discussed at the Summer School 2011 of the Multimedia Archives "Voices of the Past – Digital Oral-History-Archives on the Shoah and National Socialist Forced Labor as Academic Sources: History, Present and Outlook.“ more »

Do you want to use the Online Archive in your research project or your course? We are happy to give you advice.