Jun 16, 2021
Following up on the details of an ancestor's Holocaust testimony, we hone our fact-checking methodology and make several breakthrough discoveries about the Ringel family branch.—Machinist
historical context
Wikipedia is key for validating historical accounts
Besides the fallibility of memory, there are many reasons that an eyewitness account might not be precisely accurate. Use Wikipedia to vet historical testimony.
Match up facts from an oral or written account to the known historical record
Could I find the places on the map? Were the people named actual historical figures cited in sources? Did the timeline of her account track to the dates of known events?
For a quick first pass through this kind of material, the researchers best friend is...Wikipedia. Just about every notable person, place or event in history has a listing in the online encyclopedia.
