A report of an experience

The Production of Oral History to Collect Maximum Oral Evidence

Mehdi Abolhasani Taraghi*
Translated by Fazel Shizard

2019-9-24

Some congresses were held in the mid-1990s to commemorate martyrs’ memory. Martyrs and martyrdom are central in projects and activities of martyrs' congresses throughout country, but other issues have become relevant in this way. Therefore, imposed war, patriotic and value defense and related issues include: Iran's socio-political environment on the eve of the invasion of Iraqi Ba'ath Army, the status of combat troops, combat training, deployments, defensive lines and battlefields, front line, martyrdom, injuries, treatment, captivity and freedom, Ba'athist camps, living in a foreign land and dozens of other issues have also been taken into consideration.

However, experience has shown that each of the martyrs' commemorative congresses, especially first ones in provincial capitals, have presented and implemented different programs, with no procedural unity being ordered to them; Therefore, introducing successful instance as a practical paradigm can be beneficial and effective.

Khomeini Shahr city, with 7700 fighters and 27,000 dispatches, has over 2300 martyrs, 2554 veterans and 266 prisoners of war from different cities, towns and neighborhoods, has a high status in Isfahan and Islamic Iran.[1] The name and fame of National prominent martyrs has made the city great among provincial congresses: Such as general martyr Mohammad Mehdi Amoushahi, martyr Ismail Larry, martyr Gholamreza Mazni, martyr professor Mohammad Qorchani, martyr Dr. Habibollah Sharifian, generals Martyrs Mohammad Hussein and Mohammad Abbas Yazdan Panah, martyrs Mrs. Teibeh Vaezi, some numbers of war veterans, with high percent of injury, student martyrs (Isfahan University of Technology), martyrs of Isfahan refinery and finally martyrs of Holy Shrine Defender^[2] and resistance front. The congress has placed this city a fellow of major provincial congresses.[3]

Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs of city began to hold in mid-2000s and ten years after the commemoration of 23,000 martyrs of Isfahan province, with the support of the people in the old Revolutionary Guards area spontaneously and, by a group of revolutionary and battlefields pioneers against invading enemy. The first act of congress was to publish the first notebook and memorial of martyrs in 2009. Like other congresses, it included memorials, conferences and festivals (short films, theater, animation, music), literary meetings, cultural and sports competitions, light rail camps, exhibitions, symbols and commemorations on city level, holding public gatherings.

With the approval of responsible institutions and the allocation of credits by Revolutionary Guards Corps, official activity of the congress in the early 2010s was begun. The presence of influential figures and high commanders of sacred defense era at the head of organization made it possible for congressional plans and programs to be implemented within a set timeframe, relying on the support of center and people of the city.[4]

The congressional authorities have come up with a way that can be described today as a model for doing similar things, especially using the oral history mechanism. The criterion for this success and confirmation of claim is the quality and quantity of the works and productions, especially in the field of "oral history of sacred defense".[5]

After designing, defining and forming the Planning and Supervisory Council, and its deputies, especially the Deputy for Research and Publication, Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs acted to gather of historical information and data from the sacred defense era. The Planning and Supervisory Council is responsible for coordinating, policy-making, planning, and overseeing congressional literature and literature activities. The council is made up of congressional executive, executive management, secretary, public relations officer, and the Deputy of Research and publication. Representatives of Cultural group Dorcheh (a top city for having martyrs) and one of well-known commanders of combat units in Isfahan province are also members of the council.

Subject selection, review and approval of proposed topics, study, review and approval of scholars and authors drafts, approval of internal bylaws and regulations, review and approval of rates and tariffs for drafting and writing of works, ongoing oversight of implementation of bylaws and regulations, and planning for continuing training of required forces. This is the most important task of this council.[6]

Internal regulations of "Deputy for Research and Publication" in Commemorative Congress Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs, after six months of specialized preparation, was approved and implemented on August 13, 2014 and later, its schedule and implementation calendar were announced. This deputy has made up of three management departments: Research and study, gathering and organizing documents and documents. According to Article 1 of regulations, the aims and policies of the Deputy includes: 1- Making optimum use of city's indigenous capacities (writers, publishers, artists, institutions and people-centered organization) to promote a culture of jihad, sacrifice, and martyrdom. 2- Planning and encouraging institutions, organizations and groups to spend part of their cultural credentials to promote the culture of sacred defense. 3- Writing and producing books, documentary works of martyrs, altruists and compiling the history of the city's wars (sacred defense journal) using modern scientific and technical methods and qualified professors and the capacity of universities. 4- The attraction of public participation to produce works in the field of jihad and sacred defense. 5- Contests of story, memory and poetry to produce new content. 6- Determining the criteria for compiling the book in line with the goals and mission of martyrs’ Congress. 7- Produce documentaries, memoirs and storybook types. 8- Participating in provincial and national book fairs and introduction and presentation of produced works.

the submit of a written request and introduce of author and researcher to the secretariat of congress, review, approve the research project in Scientific Committee and Planning and Supervisory Council and appointing a supervisor for each research project is done in research management to facilitate the development of congressional publication and literature activities, with the approval of Planning and Supervisory Council.  The Scientific Committee at the helm of study and research management, which aims to examine congressional products on the subject of Jihad, sacrifice, and martyrdom, is the specialized and scientific section of the deputy and defines general and specific attributes and competencies for its members. All congressional research projects are under the constant supervision of Scientific Committee, and a periodic report of the project's implementation process by supervisor, and eventually the publication of book, is submitted to the Deputy for Research and Publication.

To gather the collection of documents, works and information about martyrs and altruists of Khomeini Shahr during sacred defense, document and document management was established as one of the subdivisions of Research and Publication Department. This management consists of three parts: Research and Study, Written Documentation, and Non-Written Documentation (Visual and Audiovisual, Narrations and Interviews).

The congress officials, from beginning, communicated and participated with various agencies and organizations, including Directorate General of the Martyrs and Sacrifice Affairs of Isfahan Province, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Hazrat Sahib al-Zaman, the Revolutionary Guards Corps of Esfahan, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Dorcheh, Najaf Ashraf division 8, Imam Hussein division 14, Islamic Republic of Iran Army Branches deployed in Isfahan province, cultural institutions, mosques and religious committees. In addition, they are also in relation with the Martyrs and Altruist Affairs Foundation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Army and Army combat units throughout the country for their research projects.[7]

military written document, governmental, media and handwritten documents, non-written documents including photographs, negatives, maps, audio and video files (movie types) and other martyrs' works, digital transcription (imaging) preparation, initial verification, and Reporting is done. In addition, written and non-written documents available at sacred defense documentation and research center and, most importantly, oral evidence such as the wireless report of commanders, the commanders decision report of meetings, as well as written evidence available at Islamic Revolution Documentation Center, like the documents of the time of martyrs and altruists, they will be prepared and archived for correcting congressional documents.[8]

Over the past years, 123,000 sheets of written documents including personal and identity documents, military documents, administrative documents, and cultural documents related to the martyrs and warriors of city in various ways, institutions and centers, including martyrs' families, friends and acquaintances, Martyrs and Sacrifice Affairs, Revolutionary Guards Corps and Army and Corps combat units, the Jihad of Construction and Relief Committee have been archived scientifically.

Most of these documents are photographs and images. Among 31,000 pieces of photos (visual documents) related to sacrificial community, 18,300 ones have been vocalized using special software. During the vocalization (introducing person or persons, location and occasion of the photo), with the presence of warriors and the owners of photos, events and memoirs related to memories associated with it, along with photo information, those narrations are also recorded in oral evidence. 307 audiovisual document samples, including 217 cassette samples (lectures, interviews, and conversations) are another part of the treasury. 83 examples of film and news reports of martyrs and martyrs' funerals are found among these documents. Collecting, recording 1,300 visits to families of martyrs and warriors were another congressional activity. These meetings are aimed at producing a variety of content and are part of the narrations of the sacred defense and martyrdom of city.

In general, oral data and Documents of martyrs' congress are divided into several categories:

-Memoirs of martyrs' parents have been recorded various organs in the past years in 2001-1991, they are being kept in special forms such as research history and written records of martyrs' culture. Due to a complete copy of martyrs 'cultural case in the archive of congress, this information has been enriched over time with frequent visits to martyrs' families, receiving new documents, and the addition of new evidence (memoirs, narrations and interviews).

-The warriors' oral memoirs expressed- in various forms of remembrance - in periodic assemblies of mosques and cultural centers of neighborhoods or cultural battalions and provided by congressional interactions. Some of these narrations are also reflected in memoirs, sacred defense publications, or personal warrior manuscripts.

-Interview data and interviews archived in the congressional smart system include two periods before and after official congressional activity. Prior to congressional research and publication, the interviews were based on sacred defense events and the sacrifice community, and most were based on interest and minimal experience in a monologue or monologue or form of dialogue. As new era, the interviews were conducted first by oral workers and then by trained teams and trained forces in oral history interview workshops. Hence, in terms of quality and even quantity, a large number of high quality interviews and a lot of added value have been added to the congressional interview list.

Considering importance and position of oral evidence, i.e. personal narrations, oral memoirs and oral history interview data in historical research and other sciences, the Deputy for research and publication is responsible for collecting this sample of data based on the task description: Identifying narrators and research authorities, providing interviewer and implementer forces, conducting interviews and conducting meetings, choosing subject for interviews and narrations, interviewing and co-authoring, and coordinating research and reporting, and conducting initial research and providing a report for archiving and registering in system.

In addition to employ experts in each field, the Deputy for Research and Publication for Congress has trained required staff in various sectors (interviewer, implementer, the scheme-maker of interviewer). Memory-telling workshops and oral history interviews are held at the preliminary and advanced levels at the place of congress or other places by scientific committee to enable oral historians and users of oral history mechanism to collect historical data more quickly and accurately.[9]

Accordingly, film and audio recording studio and oral history interviewing in accordance with existing standards was started to work by the effort of the management of documents. Since then, most interviews have been conducted at this location. Another part of interviews take place in narrators' homes including the families of martyrs, the altruists, captives, or even in hospitals, rehabilitation centers and veterans' sanatoriums.

from the time of Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs to the time of writing this text, 4100 interviews (3383 hours) have been conducted with various communities of altruists, captives, fighters, veterans, martyrs' families and officials behind frontline. Among these numbers, 2980 interviews were conducted (2378 hours) since 2014, the date of the establishment of the Deputy for Research and Publication, and 90% of these interviews have been transcribed.[10]

According to article 3 of the regulation for Deputy for research and publication – i.e. book production for Presentation to general assembly (as directed), the topics approved for the implementation of oral history projects at Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs include:

-Upright People (martyred commanders): More than 70 martyrs of Khomeini Shahr during holy defense are in the position of command or deputy for  combat units of Revolutionary Guards Corps (battalion and brigade), or hold senior military positions in Islamic Republic's army and have the titles of "General" and "Amir". For this reason, first sacred defense's oral history projects in the congress focused on collecting verbal and written data and information about these martyrs, and their works were published titled  " Upright People ". Biography of martyrs Gholamreza Mazeni (conqueror of hills), Dr. Habibollah Sharifian (the friend of God), martyred general Mohammad Mehdi Amoushahi (Phoenician that I Saw), martyr Haj Nasrallah Jourkesh (Abedin), and martyred student Esmail Luri (Stay! road calls you), was the most important output of this project.

-Forerunners of Love: The biography of martyrs of different neighborhoods, groups and classes of people (clerics, students, workers, athletes, etc.) has been published in the collection of "Forerunners of Love". The publication of five book titled The Martyrs of Khuzan Neighborhoods, Shamsabad, Bustan Saham, Esfariz and Andan has been the result of this project.

- Earthly Heavens (prominent martyrs): Biography of martyred brothers (two, three or four martyred brothers), first martyred soldier, first martyred guard, first martyred student, teacher, cleric, athlete, martyred veterans and martyrs of assassination titled "Earth Heavens" in form of booklet based on same oral history interviews and the use of written documents were polished in 73 titles.[11]

-Martyr's wives: In this plan, which was implemented before the Deputy for research and publication, the wives of a number of prominent martyrs of Khomeini Shahr have discussed in detail about marriage, life, moral and behavioral characteristics of martyrs in an intimate conversation with the executor of the project. This version of the narration has been published in the book titled "From B ... to Pomegranates". In addition, the project was implemented principally for all married martyrs and dedicated veterans.

-Anonymous veterans (prominent veterans): Explaining the situation and problems of veterans with high injury and their families (parents, spouse, and children) has been the most important goal of this project since the beginning of injury. In the project, 55 veterans of psychiatry, spinal cord injury and amputation and 99 of their family members have been interviewed and published data in two works. The book titled "Halfway of Paradise" about the birth, childhood, occupation, education, fighting and heroism was published in 2016 by Derakhshan Star Publications. The book "Unknown Altruists" is also based on active interview, field research, and the study of scientific articles to address the problems of a veteran and his family over more than three decades.[12]

- Flight lovers (prominent warriors): In this project, in addition to publish a verified and documented transcript of memoirs of Khomeini Shahr’s captives using oral history interview mechanism, biography of captives from birth to captivity and return to Islamic homeland, post-captivity era, role-playing in society and family, analysis and information of It extracted and written. Also, group meetings or interviews with deployed captives in a Ba'athist camp, as well as common aspects of captivity, will be questioned. The book "From Mimak to Beyond Majnoon" contains written memoirs of veteran and general Morteza Bakhtiari (the first commander of Najaf Ashraf's Imams Brigade 14) and "Meeting with Strangers" containing the memoirs of Basij's fighter Qadratullah Mehrabi are two notable examples. The memoirs of warrior diver, Seyed Ali Mousavi, also known as "Seyed Nightingale" among the warriors, has been published as "Seyed Nightingale: the Memorial of Martyr Divers".

Written memories, in the presence of narrators, have simply gone out of memory and combined (memory-interview). Occasionally, oral history interviews are conducted with narrator regardless of memoirs and only by studying them, and the result is narrated by third or first person (or main narrator).

Among the handwritten manuscripts of martyrs of Khomeini Shahr, daily notes and memoirs of Seyed Ali Mortazavi, head of political ideology training unit in Karbala published in a book entitled "Seyed Ali's Narrations" with the help of written, military and personal documents of that martyr.

-Sacred defense journal: During the eight years of sacred defense, volunteer warriors of Khomeini Shahr province served in the combat force of Najaf Ashraf 8 and the Imam Hussein division 14 (AS) in frontline of war against invading enemy in the south and west of country. The books titled "Zulfqari Front", "The Battle of Shush", "Operation Muharram", and "Operation Preliminary Walfajar ", have been compiled and edited based on interviews with warriors, perpetrators and activists.

-Operation information: The compilation of "History and Performance of Operations of Najaf Ashraf Division 8" was designed by the commanders of this unit in eight chapters. A significant portion of oral history interviews were conducted individually and in groups, with the presence of the unit's members, including members of team identification and leadership. Due to the professionalism of interview, commanders who are familiar with the techniques of interview are responsible of this task.

-Training forces: The warriors of Khomeini Shahr city had received necessary training in military centers and barracks and Red Crescent Relief Courses in Jihad Construction and have been sent to the front. Almost all of congress's narrators have been questioned to express this important issue and record the experiences of educators and practitioners. Alongside them, instructors and officials at training centers, especially "Imam Hussein training camp" (martyr Mazheni) in northern Khomeini Shahr, have shared their memories and experiences of those difficult and sensitive days. The book "Mr. Coach" is first congressional work in this field. On the other hand, the line-breaker forces of brigade Fourteen Imams (AS) in division Najaf Ashraf 8, that many of them were fighters from Khomeini Shahr; after the end of imposed war by narrated and recounted a corner of the events of that sacred defense by forming "the Cultural Battalion of Fourteen Imam", holding monthly meetings and seeing each other at night of reminiscences. This information and data has also been enriched by its oral data archive, which has been recorded by congressional records management.

Collected documents and data for organizing and using by researchers and authors are provided to documentation management, by considering, to be classified, edited and indexed. The purpose of this work is to provide authors and researchers with easy and systematic access to the documents needed to conduct their research. The congress information and data are supported by dedicated software and archives. This specialized software was designed by a dedicated team of veteran engineer Safar Ali Jalali for seven years as the congress began to work, and its problems and shortcomings were gradually eliminated.[13]

Congressional oral history interviews are designed in two "person-centered" and "subject-oriented" groups. While company and battalions commanders, wireless telegrapher, courier, dispatch officers, Revolutionary Guards commanders are prominent fighters, it is nevertheless war-related issues that determine main lines of interview and its questions. Since several thousand combat warriors from the city have been involved in more than one sacred defense operation, each narrator has the ability to tell the story of several operations, from pre-deployment to front-line activity.

Written documents are very useful for finding narrators and doing interviews. It is true that those in charge of dispatching warriors and commanders of that era are now present in the congress and they are in charge of the martyrs' congress, but Sistan-Baluchestan and Turkmenistan are more important for accurate observation and identification of the perpetrators and activists of that era, written documents, especially the "List of Warriors" to the southern and western fronts of country. Referring to these lists and separating martyrs and the deceased, the names and characteristics of other warriors presented in each operation and historical event are extracted. Next, the address of person's living place or work will be inquired and obtained from friends and relatives or related institutions. By repeatedly calling and inviting people, they are subjected to active questioning and interviewing individually and then in groups. Since a significant portion of the community of altruists have been injured due to their frequent presence on the fronts, their records and evidence can also be accessed through interaction and collaboration with the Foundation of Martyrs and Sacrifice Affairs. in addition to veteran personal documents that are transcribed, recorded, kept and used at congresses, veterans' clinical records - in interviews with veterans of war - are widely used for narrative questioning and verification.

The design of the subject-based interviews is completely networked. This means that all aspects of a historical event (operation) include: City and neighborhood condition on the eve of operations, location and manner of dispatch, combatants, dispatch route, area entry, front line, operations, returning to home, vacation time, operations analysis, friends and companions, concerned, review and interrogation. The topics of each interview are asked based on the position of each of fighters who were involved in war as much as possible without limitation on the number of narrators.

In addition to participating in the events of Islamic revolution, many altruists and warriors have been involved in the events of victory of revolution in February 1978 until the beginning of Iraqi imposed war against Iran, including in Kurdistan, Sistan-Baluchistan and Turkmenistan. That is why, in addition to the sacred defense narrative, narrations concerning Kurdistan and eastern and northeastern regions of country are also importance in oral congressional interviews.

After finding subject, determining narrators and identifying each narrator's relationship with main topic and position of narrator, the task of defining narrative priorities and inviting the narrators and conducting an oral history interview should be carried out. The distinction is that interviews and narrators are not confined to operational areas and its combatants; narrators and complementary narratives are also considered due to networked approach to sub-topics and the variety of questions. Most of the warriors in Khomeini Shahr were the combat forces of brigade, the Najaf Ashraf division 8 and then fourteen infantry battalions, Muhammad Rasoolullah and the prophets. The battalions are composed of cities such as Najafabad, Khomeini Shahr, Falavarjan, Mobarka and Kashan. At the same time, some youths and teenagers in the city have been involved in the 14th division of Imam Hussein (AS) and the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army and the Jihad of construction. In the early years of the imposed war, volunteer forces in some cities and provinces of country also participated in the Najaf Ashraf divisions 8 and their battalions, including Turkish, Northern, and Qazvini and Zanjani warriors. Therefore, sometimes it is necessary to listen to their narration so that the edges of events and that particular event can be observed and recorded in history from their perspective. The people of Khomeini Shahr have not only been involved in the events of Islamic revolution and eight years of sacred defense, but they have also been on the resistance front and made saga. 20 martyrs are from this city in defending Zeinab’s (AS) Holy Shrine; among Holy Shrine Defenders, 35 percent of martyrs are from Isfahan province. The deputy for Research and Publication of Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs has also conducted oral history interviews on subject from birth to testimony of Holy Shrine Defender, collecting memoirs of family members, friends and companions of Holy Shrine Defenders along with a transcript of their documents. Although doing it was susceptible and restricted, but shortly before congress in November 2016 a brief and documentary biography of seven martyr defenders was compiled and published: Mohsen Heydari, Yahya Barati, Abdolmahdi Kazemi, Mehdi Eshaghian, Seyed Sajad Hosseini, Abdolreza Mojiri and Ruhollah Mehrabi.[14]

Khomeini Shahr can be a pioneer in holding the "Light Passenger Trip" during that time of holy defense. At that time, Revolutionary Guards of Khomeini Shahr, after coordinating with authorities, took the supreme family of martyrs to visit operational areas and where their children were martyred. During congressional activity, this trip was taken twice. The first trip was formed in the early 2010s, with the participation of congressional enthusiasts and writers, at the Mimak operational area in Ilam[15] province. The reason for this choice was that Khomeini Shahr's militant teenagers, who were sometimes twelve and thirteen years old, were sent Mimak and frontline. Martyr Ismail Lurry was responsible of headquarters of the line and the Basij teenagers stationed at its height. On the other hand, Ayatollah Ashrafi Esfahani who was martyred in mosque and from Khomeini Shahr, and he was also Imam of Friday prayer in Kermanshah, played a key role in supporting these fighters and provisions for forces stationed there. By taking this Trip, people became more familiar with the area of operations, and interviewers and writers became more aware.[16]

In May 2016, Research- scientific trip of light Passengers" attended by a number of warriors, commanders, military experts, university professors and researchers in operational areas, particularly in Fatah al-Mobin and Valfajr province was hold with with the suggestion of Research and Publication Department of Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs, data and oral records were collected and archived in congress’s archive.[17]

In recent years, although oral data and evidence have been basis for work on sacred defense historiography and the compilation of biographies of martyrs and military commanders, the authenticity and making documentation for narrations will be emphasized on simultaneous use of written and non-written documents before publishing any book in martyrs' congress department of Khomeini Shahr. Although the main content of congressional books is contained by a large number of oral narrations, these documents are corrected and supplemented by other narrations, written documents, and audiovisual documents, respectively. Thus, congressional project and works in Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs may be considered as "oral history productions", based on oral evidence, with the correction, completion and approval of written documents.

Congress's books, like most sacred defense's works in Isfahan province, have been published by "Bright Stars" publications of Imam Mahdi (AS) but they are differ in form and content with similar specimens. A search of Iran's National Library of Documentation website reveals 97 published books of the congress (24 books and 73 booklets). Beside of this amounts of books, we will find that the contents of them have been documented referred to a specific source regard to the research method. Other features of the books are the presentation of names, technical terms and words, visualization, placement and excerpts of documents and a variety of catalogs and bibliographies. All of this is done by research management. Of course, doing such works will be encountered many obstacles and problems, such as unfamiliarity and disagreement with people, the cost of designing and editing and printing a book that has been resolved with reasonable persistence and attempts.

The congress's the Deputy for research and publication department has provided uniformity and rule and style of writing for writers. In the meantime, the method of reference for oral sources and documents is a kind of contract and based on gained experience.

Something what was mentioned here was a brief account of the activities of Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s martyrs, emphasis on the programs of "Deputy for Research and Publication" and its subdivisions, to provide an efficient and relatively successful model.[18]

* Mehdi Abolhasani Taraghi (PhD), lecturer and researcher in the field of oral history and Deputy of Research and Publication of Commemorative Congress of Khomeini Shahr’s Martyrs 2017-2014 Email: M.Abolhasanitarqi@gmail.com.