World War II and post 1945 experiences in the most Western Austrian province of Vorarlberg in life stories of men and women born between 1904 and 1938. A biographical study

Regional Government of Vorarlberg

The project aims at researching World War II and post 1945 experiences of the inhabitants of the most Western Austrian province of Vorarlberg, especially men and women of the so-called Hitler-Youth-Generation (those born around 1920) and the so-called War-Generation (those born around 1930). To reconstruct the biographical meaning of experiences shaped in these times as well as in the post War context of the public discourse about World War II in Austria, forms the focus of investigation. The spe-cific relation to ‘(Nazi-)Germany’ and ‘Germans’ characterised by fascination and ambivalence, is high-lighted as a result of the research process. The data basis entails 23 life story interviews as well as written accounts and autobiographies which are analysed by interpretative biographical methods in the context of the local and regional history of the Vorarlberg.