Mappare storie di vita: riflessioni metodologiche per una cartografia di Berlino basata su interviste narrative a berlinesi in fuga dal nazismo

An overview of studies on the interaction between place and memory from various research perspectives is followed by a section illustrating the corpus under analysis, known as the Israelkorpus. This corpus consists of biographical-narrative interviews primarily in German, collected since 1989 in Israel from German speakers who were forced to flee Nazi Germany, highlighting the relevance of Berlin within this context. Next, the possibility of linking ‘maps’ and ‘stories’ is presented, particularly through the use of so-called gazetteers. This concept is defined in studies that integrate digital humanities, human geography, and topological-chronological analysis, functioning as a multidimensional chronological-topological register. The qualitative analysis, approached from a narratological perspective, examines excerpts from the interviews in which specific ‘places’ in Berlin are mentioned. The first focus is on ‘habitual places’ depicted in an ‘imperfective’ narrative that recalls locations from the narrator’s childhood and adolescence. The second focus overlays these habitual places with those associated with significant events, such as the ‘day of the boycott’ on 1 April 1933, relating to the narrator's experiences on that day.Furthermore, an effort has been made to link the identified places with various generalist gazetteers. This serves two purposes: first, to unambiguously identify the mentioned locations, and second, to reveal their chronological depth. This approach enables historical stratifications to emerge, helping contemporary audiences learn how to interrogate 'places.' Ultimately, the aim is to create an ad hoc gazetteer for the Israelkorpus.