Oral Sources from Rystad Sweden : Interviews as historical method

Abstract How do we remember? What do we remember? How does the memory change over time? These are the main questions in this essay. Five persons, who have lived or are still living in the old parish Rystad, situated seven kilometers from the town Linkoping south of Lake Roxen, have participated in interviews. They have been given the possibility to present their oral history which has been recorded and later transmitted to texture. The participants represent different social backgrounds and professions and they were born between the years 1920 – 1936. They describe their childhood and youth in bright colors though there were hardships and war during the period in Europe. During 1920 – 1945 there were lots of people on the farms because the degree of mechanization was low. The research about Rystad has shown that the informers tend to look back on their childhood and youth in a positive way despite lack of money and poor living conditions of that time. Looking back, solidarity in the parish is emphasized as an appreciated value that nowadays is lost. During the period the situation for male and female farm workers changed towards independence. This also raised demands on the individual, a fact with both positive and negative consequences. The study also presents a significant memory from the Second World War. The informers recalled that families in the little parish Rystad took care of children that had to escape from the warzones in Finland and Estonia and some of them stayed and were later adopted by their new families. The people in the country seldom had much money but they had cattle and some land of their own and therefore they managed through hard times. Their individual history will hopefully give a better understanding how life in this little parish developed during the years 1930-1970. This type of interviews is of great historic importance considering that human life is short and when it comes to an end our personal and unique history fades away