Oral testimony as a source of history: Research-recording of testimonies from students and a suggestion for the teaching of the History lesson.

In this paper we present the course of research, collection and analysis, of oral testimonies of people from Epirus who experienced the events of the Greek-Italian War, the German Occupation and the Resistance in Greece. The primary material that emerged from our research with the students of the 3rd class of High School consists of forty videotaped and transcribed interviews. These interviews were annotated and analyzed from historical (intersecting elements with official written sources of History), linguistic (vocabulary, idioms, local dialects of informants) as well as stylistic aspects (flow, style and coherence of speech and thought) and historical, socio-linguistic and educational conclusions have been drawn. The study was supplemented with photographs of the time and other evidence (documents, military orders, calendars, bulletins) anecdotes or not. Such an experiential method of approaching (local or wider) History can be a powerful motivator for students and a suitable method for Teaching History in school.