Little research interest has been directed so far toward the way in which interviews represent a specific form of documentary literature. The study looks at a large, but entirely assimilable collection of texts qualifying as interview literature, stemming from autobiographical accounts by 'ordinary' East German citizens and reflecting life in the GDR and in post-GDR East Germany up to 1995. Its purpose is to demonstrate that the interview genre is a source of personal testimony which, like diaries or letters, can be of major and immediate value for many branches of scholarship.

Autorentext
Hans Joachim Schröder ist Literaturwissenschaftler und Volkskundler und lebt in Hamburg.