a person may experience something directly and yet know way less about the phenomenon than someone who did not, or a person froma completely different era
this is why novelists and historians can virtually always explain and make more real an event than someone who has lived through it.
Someone in the middle of or directly experiencing an event may actually be in the worst possible position to be able to understand an event, due to emotions, lack of research, overview, emotional intelligence, etc.
a jew getting shipped off to the death camps has direct experience of antisemitism, yet may also be lacking in a big picture overview, may not even have seen certain signs of impending disaster for many psychological reasons.
so, no, living through an event qualifies one to only give a personal narrative, which may or may not be more widely applicable. it might inform further research, but it cannot replace it.
