Contribution short abstract:

In my presentation, I will analyze the possible and already tested methods of recording the war stories of those who are silent about their experiences, focusing on the methodology and ethics of documentation.

Contribution long abstract:

"The most documented war" comes to life through the war stories of those willing to share their experiences. This is the ethical and methodological requirement of war documentation projects. Archives of oral histories do not contain the voices of those who refuse to speak. The experiences of the traumatized and the unable to communicate are unspoken. Those who died or went missing are also silent. The archive lacks the voices of those who do not hold a pro-Ukrainian position, who acted badly under occupation, and those who may potentially be held accountable under Ukrainian law (document forgery, illegal border crossing, hiding from the military enlistment office).

How can we hear the experiences of these people, understand why they are silent, and what they are silent about? I will analyze the possible and already tested ways to record these stories, focusing on the methodology and ethics of documentation. The basis will be the narratives (36 interviews) that I recorded from May 2022. In the interviews of those who speak, we hear fragments of the fates of those who are silent.

My archive also contains stories that I heard in casual contexts. These voices do not have informed consent and are recorded in the form of my retelling, but they are not directed at a single listener but at a wide audience and are subordinated to its requests. Similarly, the choice of an interviewee during interviewing differs from the choice of a narrator by the community.