Ethical Problems in Research Involving Contemporary Witnesses

Abstract

This article describes ethical considerations in the practice of oral history in Germany. It considers interviewee's motives, researcher interests, the ethical dilemma of open-ended interviews, the relationship between interviewer and interviewee, the interviewee's "double role," the structure of an interview, anonymity, the interviewee's influence on the transcript, the ethics of interpretation and publication, the concept and practice of confronting the interviewee with the interviewer's interpretation of his or her life story, and the ethics regarding archiving of interviews.