28 questions
History & Living Through It
Major events, political upheaval, military service — history as they lived it, not as it was written.
Some of the most important history is the kind that was never written down: what daily life was really like, how a war or a political upheaval reached an ordinary family, where someone was the day everything changed. These questions capture history as your parent or grandparent actually lived it.
For families who lived through occupation, emigration, military service, or hard regimes, this is first-hand testimony that disappears with the generation that remembers it. Ask one question at a time and give them room to remember. Storykept keeps it in their own voice — and works in their own language, including Bulgarian.
Tell me about a moment when you realized the world around you was changing — what was happening, and where were you?
Was there a day you'll never forget from a time of upheaval or conflict? If you'd like, walk me through what that day was like.
What was daily life like in the place you grew up when things were hardest? Describe an ordinary day.
Tell me about someone who looked after you, or whom you looked after, during a difficult time in history.
If you ever had to leave your home behind, tell me about the day you left — what did you take with you?
Describe the first time you arrived somewhere new after leaving home. What did you see when you stepped off?
What did the grown-ups in your family say about what was happening? Tell me about a conversation you remember overhearing.
When food or other things were scarce, how did your family get by? Tell me about a meal from that time.
Tell me about a decision your family had to make during those times that changed the course of your life.
Tell me about a time you had to be braver than you felt during a difficult period.
Tell me about a stranger or neighbour whose kindness you've never forgotten during a hard chapter of history.
What are the sounds you remember from that time? Tell me about a moment one of them brings back.
Tell me about a time you took part in something bigger than yourself — a gathering, a protest, a movement, a vote that mattered.
Tell me about the day things finally changed — when a war ended, a border opened, or a regime fell. Where were you?
How did the big changes of your time reach your front door? Tell me about how everyday life shifted at home.
If you were ever separated from people you loved during those years, tell me about how you stayed connected — or how you found each other again.
Tell me about something you had to learn to do, or do without, because of the times you lived through.
Did anyone in your family serve, resist, or work behind the scenes during a conflict? Tell me their story as you heard it.
Is there a smell that takes you straight back to those years? Tell me where it carries you.
Tell me about the first time you felt hopeful again after a long, hard stretch of history.
Tell me about building a new life in an unfamiliar place — what was the hardest first thing you had to figure out?
Tell me about the first time you spoke a new language out in the world, or heard your own language far from home.
Tell me about the first time you went back to a place that history had changed. What did you find?
Even in hard times there were lighter moments. Tell me about a time you and others found a way to laugh or celebrate.
Was there a public figure, leader, or voice who shaped how you saw the events of your time? Tell me about the moment you first paid attention to them.
Is there an object you kept from those years — a document, a coin, a letter, a piece of clothing? Hold it in your mind and tell me its story.
Looking back now, how do you think living through those events shaped the person you became?
What do you most want younger people to understand about what your generation lived through?
Want these answered in their own voice — and kept forever?
Storykept guides your family through these questions by voice. No writing, no pressure. Free to start.