From Memory to Historical Knowledge: The Oral History of the Sacred Defense

A Review of Scientific and Operational Strategies for Overcoming the Erosion of Narrators’ Memory

The esteemed author has indicated that DeepSeek artificial intelligence was utilized in the identification of sources and the editing of this article.

Hassan Beheshtipour
Translated by Kianoush Borzouei

2026-6-11

Introduction

Four decades have passed since the end of the Imposed War. The generation that experienced fire and steel with its own flesh, blood, and bones is now in the final stages of middle age and old age. The issue of “memory erosion” is no longer a hypothesis; it has become a clinical and observable reality. Many narrators make errors regarding the details of time, place, and the sequence of events; at times, even the names of fellow combatants become hidden in the deeper layers of memory.

Fortunately, in Iran, numerous institutions including the Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Values, the Martyrs Foundation, the Army Documentation Center, the Oral History Units of the IRGC, the Construction Jihad, and the Law Enforcement Forces have for many years been engaged in recording and preserving the memories of combatants, and they have produced valuable works. However, with the passage of time and the increasing distance from the events, the necessity of revising methodologies and strengthening existing structures is felt more strongly than ever.

As a proposal for enhancing and complementing current activities, this article brings together two categories of strategies: first, psychological and communicative techniques for memory activation; and second, structural and operational solutions for organization, training, and verification. The principal emphasis is on coordination and synergy among existing institutions; their merger is not proposed by this article. This is because institutional diversity can contribute to creativity and help prevent the emergence of a dominant narrative, provided that duplication of effort and the fragmentation of data are simultaneously avoided.

As Keightley and Pickering (2013) remind us in Research Methods for Memory Studies, memory is not merely the recollection of a recorded event; rather, it is an active and reconstructive process situated within the context of the present. This volume, which brings together specialized chapters on various dimensions of memory (from autobiographical memory to testimony and witnessing), provides oral history researchers with a methodological framework. Among its key chapters is Chapter Two, “Oral History and Remembering,” by Joanna Bornat, which directly addresses the challenges of interviewing elderly narrators and the techniques of memory stimulation. Applying this methodological framework in interviews with veterans of the Sacred Defense can help uncover deeper layers of memory that are not accessible through conventional linear interviews. (1)

A. Ten Scientific Techniques for Overcoming Memory Erosion in Interviews

1. Preventive Documentation:

Reviewing previously recorded memories (audio tapes, films, personal notes) as memory stimuli before conducting a new interview is an approach that some institutions have already begun to implement and which can be expanded more broadly.

2. Multisensory Stimuli:

Displaying photographs, playing music or the sound of sirens, and presenting familiar smells (gunpowder, damp soil) in order to return the narrator to the mental atmosphere of the front during the interview.

One of the well-known phenomena in memory psychology is that of Flashbulb Memories. Brown and Kulik (1977), in their seminal study, demonstrated that sudden, surprising, and highly emotional events (such as the news of the assassination of a national leader) can create an exceptionally vivid, accurate, and enduring memory of the circumstances in which the news was received (such as place, time, ongoing activity, and the individual's emotions). These memories, as though captured by the flash of a camera, exhibit a high degree of resistance to forgetting.

For the oral history of the Sacred Defense, this finding carries particular significance. many combatants experienced scenes of battle (hearing the sound of an explosion, witnessing the martyrdom of a comrade) as events of extremely high emotional intensity. Identifying and targeting these “emotional turning points” during interviews can open a gateway to memories that, despite the passage of decades, remain vivid and untouched in the depths of memory. (2)

3. Group Interviews with Caution:

Bringing together two or three former comrades for the mutual correction of memories, while recognizing the risk of memory contamination, which must be controlled through individual questioning.

4. Virtual Reality (VR)^[1] and Simulation:

The visual reconstruction of a trench, a bridge, or a wartime situation to unlock memory and place the narrator within the atmosphere, space, and emotional condition of the time being recounted. For institutions possessing the necessary technological infrastructure, this proposal is entirely feasible with the assistance of artificial intelligence.

5. Correlation with Contemporary Documents:

Providing the narrator with operational maps, weather reports, or chronological calendars from the wartime period. Likewise, the use of large language models (LLMs), which can learn complex patterns of human language through the analysis of vast quantities of text.^[2]

6. Non-Linear Questioning:

Avoiding questions such as, “What happened after Operation Fath ol-Mobin?” and instead asking, “Do you remember who was in the trench beside you on that moonless night?”

Dr. Morteza Nouraei believes that the interviewer should not merely seek a grand narrative; rather, by posing detailed questions, the narrator should be encouraged to “reconstruct the scene” and thereby move beyond generalities. (3)

“It is important to recognize that not all wartime memories can be expressed through fluent and coherent words. Cathy Caruth, in Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History (1996), argues that trauma, because of its shocking nature, never becomes fully present within a linear narrative. Instead, it manifests itself indirectly through silences, slips of language, and the narrator’s emotional disturbances. Therefore, the oral history interviewer must learn to hear the voice of the wound; those things that the narrator does not say, or cannot say, are sometimes more expressive than thousands of words. Recording indirect signs such as long pauses, sudden tears, changes in facial expression is an essential part of documenting wartime memory.” (4)

7. Body Memory:

Recording the narrator’s movements, silences, tears, or trembling, which at times narrate memory more effectively than words themselves. “A narrator may not express part of a memory in words, yet the body still remembers it.”

“One of the richest yet most neglected sources for accessing wartime memories is Body Memory. Janine Natalya Clark (2021), in her article “Body Memories as a Neglected Legacy of Human Rights Abuses”, demonstrates that the bodies of survivors of wartime violence tell stories that words are incapable of expressing. A trembling hand when mentioning a name, sudden crying without any apparent cause, prolonged silence in response to a particular question, or even numbness and emotional deadening—all of these are signs of body memory. For the oral history interviewer, this means expanding the research toolkit beyond audio recorders and cameras. The interviewer must be trained to identify, record, and incorporate these bodily signs into the final analysis. At times, the narrator’s body cries out what language is incapable of saying.” (5)

8. Observing the Professional Sequence of the Memory Ladder:

Beginning with free narration, then moving toward open-ended questions and subsequently closed-ended questions, and finally comparing the resulting narrative with documentary evidence, while maintaining appropriate intervals of time between each stage.

9. Collaboration with Specialists in Gerontology and Neuroscience:

Identifying patterns of forgetting and designing questions that correspond to the narrator’s cognitive capacities. One of the principal challenges in interviewing elderly war narrators is the presence of “memory gaps.”

One of the common challenges in interviewing elderly combatants is encountering “memory gaps”—instances in which the narrator says, “I do not remember,” or in which part of an event appears to have disappeared entirely from memory. Recent research indicates that such gaps do not necessarily signify absolute forgetting. Dorothy (2025), in her study of survivors of complex trauma, shows that the brain may suppress the verbal and narrative dimensions of memory as a defense mechanism, while traces of the event remain as “non-conceptual body memory.” For the interviewer, this finding carries an important practical implication: whenever a “memory gap” is encountered, it should not be passed over too quickly. A brief pause, a change in questioning, or reference to a sensory stimulus (such as showing a photograph from the same operation) may bring the suppressed memory back into conscious awareness. (6)

10. Transforming Memory into Digital Heritage:

Uploading memories into intelligent databases equipped with conceptual search capabilities and automatic comparison with other narratives. This proposal seeks standardization at the national level and the sharing of narratives produced through the participation of all relevant institutions, while avoiding all forms of categorized approaches in order to prevent duplication of effort and to complete the information required for the research projects of each institution or organization. To this end, operational proposals are presented in the second section of this article.

 B. Ten Structural and Operational Recommendations

1. Completion of the Veterans’ Database:

It is proposed that each institution (the Army, the IRGC, the Law Enforcement Forces, the Construction Jihad, and the Martyrs Foundation) update its personnel database and share key information (health status, willingness to cooperate) through a common portal (without structural integration).

2. Standardized Training for Interviewers:

It is proposed that a joint training program be developed among the active institutions, while preserving the operational independence of each institution. The objective is, in effect, to educate and develop personnel engaged in interviewing narrators in a specialized manner, particularly with regard to methods of cooperation and interaction with narrators, including the various psychological and research dimensions, as well as techniques for engaging with an active narrator.

3. Training Narrators Before the Interview:

It is proposed that all institutions include, prior to the commencement of interviews, brief orientation sessions introducing narrators to the ethical principles of narration (avoiding exaggeration and distinguishing memory from interpretation). Furthermore, where possible, introductory meetings should be held between the interviewer, the editor, and the narrator before the interview sessions take place, in order to enhance familiarity among them and to introduce the general principles of oral history and its necessities.

4. Establishment of Research Support Teams for Interviewers:

It is proposed that documentary research units be established within each institution to prepare an “operation package” (maps, unit reports, weather conditions, battalion names), as well as to collect information relating to the same period, including historical events and the temporal and spatial conditions of that era, for the interviewer so that the subject may be examined within its proper context.

5. Comparative Verification Teams:

It is proposed that a network of institutions be established for the exchange of narratives and their mutual comparison, without concentrating authority in a single institution. Each institution should be responsible for verifying its own narratives while having access to the records of other institutions.

Alireza Kamari argues that memory, in and of itself, is not history; rather, it is the “raw material of history.” Therefore, in order to transform memory into credible knowledge, subjecting it to critical inspection and comparing it with documentary evidence is a necessity. (7)

6. Parallel Recording of Audio, Video, and GPS Data:

This is proposed as a technical standard for all oral history interviews. During the interview with the narrator, three types of data should be recorded simultaneously and in coordination:

1. Audio (accurate recording of the speech of both the narrator and the interviewer)

2. Video (recording facial expressions, bodily movements, silences, and emotional reactions that complement the narrator’s spoken words)

3. GPS Data (recording the geographical coordinates of the interview location and correlating the memory with maps—for example, if the narrator recalls being present “at a particular elevation in the operational area,” GPS can precisely identify that point on a map).

These three informational layers transform documentation from a “simple conversation” into a multidimensional file capable of cross-reference.

7. Inter-Institutional Coordination Without Integration:

It is proposed that a “Sacred Defense Oral History Coordination Council” be established, consisting of representatives from all institutions, in order to determine priorities, prevent duplication of effort, facilitate data exchange, and enable the sharing of narratives after the final publication of works while preserving authors’ rights.

8. Formation of Mobile Rapid-Recording Teams:

It is proposed that each institution, without waiting for the completion of infrastructure, dispatch mobile teams to interview its oldest and most seriously ill veterans.

9. Transparent and Uniform Ethical Agreements:

It is proposed that a common ethical charter be developed among institutions, while preserving their independence, to safeguard the rights of narrators, interviewers, and the final editors of the works.

10. A Collaborative Funding Model:

It is proposed that the existing capacities of each institution be utilized (without creating new parallel budgets) and that resources be directed toward shared priorities.

C. Examining the Role of Existing Institutions and Their Capacities

The Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Values, as the principal custodian of this field, has established an extensive infrastructure of archives, libraries, and human resources. Among its achievements are the publication of thousands of volumes, the compilation of operational atlases, and the preparation of the Encyclopedia of the Sacred Defense.

The Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation also possesses a rich archive of the memories of the families of martyrs and disabled veterans. The Army Documentation Center and the Oral History Units of the IRGC have specialized in recording the narratives of commanders and combatants within their respective units. The Law Enforcement Forces have likewise documented the memories of their personnel in various formats.

Nevertheless, in order to overcome the erosion of narrators’ memory, it is proposed that existing activities be strengthened in three areas:

1. Expanding Coverage:

Many ordinary combatants (ordinary Basij volunteers and call-up soldiers) have still not been identified or documented. It is proposed that institutions, in cooperation with the Civil Registration Organization and relevant foundations, complete their databases.

2. Improving Methodologies:

Interviews are conducted predominantly through linear methods and without the use of memory-stimulation techniques. It is proposed that the ten methods presented in the first section be incorporated into institutional practice.

3. Systematic Verification:

Comparing narratives with documentary evidence and with one another requires an organized structure. It is proposed that an inter-institutional network be established for the exchange and comparison of memories.

D. A Proposed Model for Coordination Without Integration

The principal proposal of this article is the establishment of a “Sacred Defense Oral History Coordination Council” composed of representatives from all relevant institutions (the Foundation for the Preservation of Sacred Defense Values, the Army, the IRGC, the Law Enforcement Forces, the Martyrs Foundation, the National Organization for Documents and the National Library).

The responsibilities of this Council would include:

• Defining common technical and ethical standards (while preserving the freedom of institutions to employ their own specific methods)

• Determining national priorities for interviews (for example, narrators at risk of memory loss or illness)

• Creating a data-exchange portal (rather than a single centralized database)

• Preventing duplication of effort and the waste of resources

• Facilitating institutional access to one another’s records for verification purposes

This Council would not dissolve or merge any institution. Institutional diversity would be preserved, because such diversity can contribute to creativity, innovation, and the prevention of the emergence of a single dominant narrative. Fieldwork, interviewing, editing, and publication would remain the responsibility of the existing institutions. Only coordination and data exchange would be added.

Conclusion

Memory erosion is a relentless yet manageable process. Fortunately, Iran possesses dozens of active and experienced institutions in the field of the oral history of the Sacred Defense. Their achievements are worthy of respect and are highly valuable. What we need today is neither the establishment of new institutions nor the merger of existing ones, but rather completion, coordination, and enhancement:

• Completing the coverage of veterans’ databases (especially ordinary combatants)

• Improving interview methodologies through scientific memory-stimulation techniques

• Coordination among institutions for data exchange and comparative verification

• Standardized training for interviewers and narrators

The proposal to establish a Coordination Council represents the least costly and least intrusive solution capable of producing immediate benefits without creating a new layer of bureaucracy. At present, only one thing is lacking: the willingness to sit around the same table and begin the process of coordination.

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References

(1). Keightley, E., & Pickering, M. (Eds.). (2013). Research Methods for Memory Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

(2). Brown, R., & Kulik, J. (1977). Flashbulb Memories. Cognition, 5(1), 73–99.

(3). Nouraei, M. (2007). Topics in Iranian Oral History. Isfahan: University of Isfahan Press, p. 42.

(4). Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

(5). Clark, J. N. (2021). Body Memories as a Neglected Legacy of Human Rights Abuses: Exploring Their Significance for Transitional Justice. Social & Legal Studies, 30(5), 768–789.

(6). Dorothy, J. (2025). Big Chunks of Blank Memory: Complex Trauma and Dissociative Body Memory. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 28(3), 501–516.

(7). Kamari, A. (2009). The Mark of Impact: Writings on the Critique and Introduction of War Memoirs. Tehran: Sooreh Mehr Publications, p. 64.