Oral history news for Khordad 1402 (May-June 2023)

Compiled by Iranian Oral History Website
Translated by M. B. Khoshnevisan

2023-7-3

According to the website of Iranian Oral History, "News of the Month" is the title of a series of reports in the site. The reports take a glance at the news related to the subject of the website on written and cyber media. What follows is the news for Khordad 1402:

*In an interview with IBNA (Iran Book News Agency), Gholamreza Azizi, a researcher in the area of Sacred Defense said, "Unfortunately, the workshops held in the area of oral history are mostly related to interviews and the biggest weakness in this area is the weakness of training in the area of compilation."

*the scientific meeting of oral history under the title "Harms, Challenges, Approaches, and Methods of Compilation" was held in Ghasr-e Shirin Hall of the National Museum of Islamic Revolution and Scared Defense on Tuesday 2^nd of Khordad 1402 (May 23, 2023) attended by Hojjatoleslam Saeed Fakhrzadeh, Gholamreza Azizi, Morteza Ghazi, Yahya Niazi and a number of other oral history activists.

*In the first scientific-expert meeting of oral history aimed at reviewing the harms and challenges of oral history of Islamic Revolution and Scared Defense, Mohammad Gahssemipour said, "The fusion and combination of memory and oral history is one of the serious harms in the field of oral history". He continued, "Oral history is basically a mosaic and a puzzle, and it is necessary to discuss the same topic with different people from many different angles, but we have turned this puzzle feature of oral history into being person-centered". The meeting was held on Tuesday 2^nd of Khordad 1402 (May 23, 2023) in the National Museum of the Islamic Revolution.

*In the first meeting of the Council for the Promotion and Development of the Culture of Martyrdom and Sacrifice, the director general and the representative of Vali-e Faqih (guardian jurist) in Lorestan's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said that more than 1,900 cases of martyrs' memories have been recorded with 30 documentary teams.

*According to ISNA, the second large gathering of "Heroes of Line Breakers" was held by the Sacred Defense Documentation and Research Center on the anniversary of the conquest of Khorramshahr, with the presence of commanders of the Sacred Defense era, and Brigadier General Naeeni, the Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief and head of the Sacred Defense Documentation and Research Center, presented a report on the oral history of the line breaker commanders.

*According to IQNA (International Quran News Agency) from Fars, in the bilateral meeting of the Fars Province High Benefactors Association with the National Library and Archives of the southern region of the country, Siroos Pakfetrat, the CEO of the association said on 3^rd of Khordad (May 24), "The bilateral meeting of the board of directors and the board of trustees of the association with National Library and Archives of the southern region of the country was held and based on the proposal of the research unit of National Library and Archives of the southern region of the country, the oral history compilation plan of the high network of this forum will be compiled and finalized".

*A ceremony for unveiling 21 titles of Holy Defense books with the topics of stories, translations, memoirs, oral history, research, plays, and children and adolescents was held in North Khorasan.

*According to the Public Relations of the Art Center of Qom Province, the memory meeting of the sacred defense titled "Sometimes Sky" was held with the presence of a group of people interested in oral history in the Museum House of the Martyrs Zain al-Din in Qom.

* The oral history of gendarmerie from before the revolution to the imposed war with the title "1st Side" co-authored by Abbas Heydari Moghadam Arani and Mohammad Saneii was published in 3 volumes by Sarv Publications of the National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defence.

* At the 6th Quarterly Conference of the Memory-Telling Movement, the head of the Sacred Defense Documents and Research Center said, "Oral histories of about six hundred battalion commanders from the Sacred Defense era have been conducted. At least 70 volumes of document books will be extracted and published from these narratives.

* In a meeting attended by the General Director of the Foundation for Preservation and Publication of the Sacred Defense values of Kerman and the head of the National Library and Archives of Iran (Southeast Administration), a memorandum of understanding was signed by the two parties on registering and recording the oral history of the combatants and supporting the publication of books on the oral history of the Sacred Defense.

*In a meeting with the head of the National Library and Archives of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, the representative of Vali-e Faqih in the province said, " It is important to produce content in the field of oral history of the revolution, tribes and clans and their anti-colonial struggles and sacred defense, and projects should be presented in this direction". 

* In a ceremony attended by the officials, writers, researchers and veterans of the Sacred Defense, five titles of oral history books and three titles of reference books of the Sacred Defense were unveiled in Yasouj, and the authors and narrators of these works were honored.

* During a ceremony celebrating the three decades of Quranic activity of Mohammad Ali Doosti, Hamid Samadi, the head of the Qur'an and Etrat Department of the General Department of Islamic Culture and Guidance of Khorasan Razavi, said, "The oral and written history of the Qur'an meetings of Mashhad will be compiled." This Quranic meeting was held at the Quranic base of Al-Mahdi Mosque and in collaboration with the Institute of Hadith-e Noor-e Rezvan.

*The reading and review session of the book "The Voice You Hear Now" written by Zahra Akbari (Sad Publishing House) including narratives about the conditions of the guys of Shiraz during the Iran-Iraq war, along with a group discussion of the narrators of the book, hosted by the General Department of Public Libraries of the city of Shiraz was held.

*A meeting for reviewing how to compile the oral history of the 10th Division of Hazrat Seyyed al-Shohada (PBUH) during the Sacred Defense was held in Alborz province on 18^th of Khordad (June 8). In this meeting, it was emphasized to speed up the collection and recording of the oral history of this division, registration of its historical role in the sacred defense, especially in the operational areas of the west and northwest of the country.

* The book "Asheikh Mahmoud's son", memoirs and oral history of Dr. Hossein Alaei, a professor of strategic management at Tehran University and a commander of the Sacred Defense era, was unveiled at Iran Newspaper Press Institute. The author of the book is Hossein Alaei and its publisher is Iran Newspaper Press Institute.
*In an interview with the Sacred Defense News Agency, the Director General of the Preservation of the Sacred Defense Works in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad Province announced the recording of the oral history of 40 combatants of the Sacred Defense of Kohgiluyeh and Boyar Ahmad in line with the second National Congress of Martyrs of the province.

* The book "Secrets of the Organization" consisting of oral history and seven interviews about the Monafeqin or hypocrites was published. According to the IRIB News Agency correspondent, this book has been authored by Javad Moogooi and published by Amir Kabir Publications.

*During the meeting of reviewing the book "In Presence of Colonel" (Oral memoirs of Brigadier General Abbas Pourali, published by Setareha Publications and written by Mehri Gholampour), Mohammad Mehdi Khaleghi, writer and documentary maker said that writing in the field of oral history is a psychological process and an emotional relationship must be established with the interviewee. It is as if the interviewer wants to live with him. The meeting was held on 31^st of Khordad (June 21) in Mashhad's Art Hosseinieh.