[Adoptees searching for information: Experiences with individual file research in the context of forced adoptions in the German Democratic Republic].

Contemporary witnesses who assume that they were affected by forced adoptions in the GDR as children often report difficulties in researching personal files. Their experiences and the resulting consequences will be examined.26 narrative interviews were conducted with contemporary witnesses about their experiences with the process of researching and accessing files and analysed using qualitative content analysis.The multi-stage and often complicated process of researching files is characterized by personal, bureaucratic and structural factors that can both facilitate and hinder the process. The research process can lead to personal clarification but can also raise further questions and contradictions and thus trigger feelings of relief as well as anger, sadness and the experience of injusticeDifficulties in the research process can lead to stress and continued experiences of injustice, which can be topics in psychotherapy and psychosocial counselling.Assistance in the research process and sensitization of practitioners can support those affected in the search for and classification of information found.