“How is modern times different than you predicted or hoped it would be?”

“What changed that you wished didn’t; what hasn’t changed that you wished did change?”

had a long-term affair with an older, married man from ~ the age of 17 who went missing in 1945.

Literally everything about THAT, what the fuck?

• Tell me about some of your favourite people when you were a child.

• Do you remember any interesting sounds from your youth?

• What was it like learning english? How did you start?

• What were your first impressions when arriving in the USA?

These are all just conversation starters of course. You have to be ready to jump on the thread of a story she really wants to tell and pull on it to get more details and viewpoints.

Using sensory anchors like sounds or smells will really get your questions closer to memory triggers. “What did your favourite bakery smell like?” And then stuff will come up, like shortages or foreign treats, and that’s maybe a good story to follow.

Basically whenever possible, encourage her to “tell me about” life back then, and follow up with short questions asking for clarification or details.

Damn, that means she was born in 1916. How has she perceived the failing of the Weimar Republic and the rising of the Nazis? Did she know any jews who “went missing” after 1933? How did she survive the bombings?

Was she a victim of soviet war crimes during or after the battle of Berlin?

Not trolling, I would just be genuinely curious. I’m german and I missed the chance to ask my grandpa (born 1925, died before I was interrested in stuff like that), who was in the Wehrmacht on the western front, about how he perceived this and the war itself.

How does she feel about the current political climate as compared to that of her youth in Germany?

Before the war, did she or her family support the Nazis? I know a lot of people supposedly viewed it as, for want of a better term, a necessary temporary solution to the problems Germany was facing. Where did her family and she land on that? Did they support him during the war?

Before the war, Germany was a hotspot for queer folk, and from what I understand it was a pretty open secret, and outright public in a lot of areas and circles. How does she feel about trans issues and gay issues now? What about women’s rights?

Less political questions:

if she could bring back anything that no longer exists, what would it be? Could be a custom, a technology, a food, anything.

If you or her are comfortable discussing sex, I’ve found that people of that generation, when I’ve been able to talk to them or read interviews, have some really fantastic stories about illicit affairs that can give you a lot of background/cultural information by way of what was verboten and the ways they got around it. Did she have any other affairs or trysts?

What’s the worst thing about life today compared to life when she was young?

Would she ever want to return to live in Germany if she were able to spend s significant amount of time there?

Favorite movie star of her youth?

Personally I’d love to talk about what her hobbies were or simply how living would have been different. That setting though definitely makes for some interesting questions.

She could have been insulated from the war or just tried to ignore it but it’d be neat to ask what the opinions in her community were about it (or her own!). Also what changed in her lifestyle as a result of the start of the war and the end of it.

I’d ask what some of her favourite moments were.

I found with my grandparents that they’d focus on the smaller things as they aged. Sure, they could talk about the major events but they actually liked talking about the little things.

My grandmother (who is best described as an eccentric matriarch) would tell stories about how she changed her general store to one ~10 km further away because the closer one “didn’t serve poor people” (she’d tell the full story of why every time).

She died at ~77. I can only imagine what moments she’d have in her heart if she had lived to 108.

In recording oral history I find that not asking too particular questions is often best, you want to lead them into freely drive into their memories and come into the mood of remembering things by themselves.

One way that has worked for me was to ask about the layout of they parental house, not because that is particular knowledge you want to record, but because it is a way for them to feel back at home and remember stuff.

Oh and please record it and, given permission ofc, hand the recording in to a nearby archive. Recorded oral history is a scarce good and can mean the world for people researching stuff you’ve not even thought about.

My grandma was born in WV 1919. I asked her a lot over the years (she passed in 2015)

Your great grandma may be different… but keep in mind, she’s human. And if she’s anything like my grandma, she will lie, or more charitably have some false recreations of certain memories.

So asking round about questions to get more details about certain things can sometimes get some interesting truths exposed without her realizing it.

Do not point out inconsistencies in an accusing way!!!

Remember not everything is the actual truth, even if she’s being honest. We are human and our memories are swiss cheese on good days. None of us remember everything with 100% accuracy.

Oh, and ask about her favorite music through the years, or favorite foods. Sometimes sounds, tastes l, and smells can trigger memories!

• what did she find strange about America when she arrived here?
• what did she do for fun?
• does she recall any experiences her parents/ grandparents told to her about their lives?
• what was her favorite meal/ treat as a kid?
• what is the most scandalous story she heard from a friend or family member?
• did she or anyone in the family sing or play an instrument? What did they play?

Story Corps has a list of questions that would be helpful, and if you were interested in recording the audio of the interview their platform would be a good resource:

https://storycorps.org/participate/great-questions/

The last time I spoke with my Paternal Grandmother was her 103rd birthday. She died about 2 months later.

She had completely lost her short term memory, but was otherwise still cognizant and her long term memory was perfectly intact. She was born in 1901 and died in 2004, so she saw a LOT of history. Three of her sons fought in World War 2 and one did not come back. She saw aviation go from sticks and canvas biplanes to jets.

So that is what I asked her about. Things that happened in her life in the distant past and if her mind started following a string of memories, I shut up and just listened. There are things I know about my family that I doubt my Dad, who died this past February, even knew.