The paper is a summary of speeches delivered during the debate held on the Faculty of Humanities at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń on 14th November 2019. The discussion was anchored in panelists’ recent texts concerning state of art in Polish oral history and its significance in contemporary history academic research. The key problem discussed was ability of oral history to create innovative, fresh images of the past – especially in the field of professional, academic historiography.
The article deals with an issue of the possible applications of oral history to teaching history at Polish schools. The author states that oral history as an element of educating young people should become a natural part of teaching processes. It can become a factor increasing their awareness of their local history and of the links connecting them with the previous generations. It is also an efficient way of avoiding teaching based only on archival facts and events. This statement is illustrated by chosen examples of the use of oral history at schools and discusses the possibilities of its further use.
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