scholarly journals Z Kaliningradu na Кёнигсберг – zapotrzebowanie społeczne czy marzenie nielicznych? Społeczna inicjatywa zmiany nazwy miasta

2015 ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
Miłosz J. Zieliński
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
Social Activists ◽  
Kaliningrad Oblast ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact

Kaliningrad into Кёнигсберг – a social need or a dream of a few? Societal initiative for a change of the city’s nameKaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation has been subject to manifold social processes due to its specific history, geographic conditions and other factors. Some of the former resulted in rejecting numerous elements of the Soviet past by a part of the local population. This included the very name of Kaliningrad, as a tribute paid to Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin who has been considered one of the state and party officials responsible for mass purges in the 1930s and 1940s.the purpose of the article is to analyse the initiative put forward by a group of social activists to change the name ‘Kaliningrad’ into ‘Кёнигсберг’ (Königsberg), that is to return to the pre-war name of the city. As authors of the petition refer to previous attempts of changing the name and use them as an important part of their reasoning, the history of the notion has also been outlined with emphasis on the December 1988 discussion noted by Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, then a Communist Party official.In the article, a brief introduction of the petition is followed by main arguments used by its supporters and the discussion which the document triggered among the local administration and in the media, in particular the Internet. The discussion concentrated on two aspects of the petition. First, controversies around procedural handling of the petition by Kaliningrad Duma. Secondly, fierce debates about phrases used in the document and their political significance in the context of the contemporary identity of Kaliningrad Oblast.Results of the debate and the impact the petition had on broader public opinion, both in Kaliningrad Oblast and the whole of Russia, turned out to be meagre. Only 400 signatures were collected across the country to support the idea. No decisive measures were taken on the administrative level such as moving the initiative toward a referendum. No agreement was reached between those who wish to turn the whole notion down and those who would like to postpone the final decision to a more distant future.In conclusion, it is worth noting that despite the obvious failure of the petition the discussion showed considerable social activity in Kaliningrad Oblast, especially on the part of the younger generation. This was reflected by a number of threads and posts in electronic media, many of which served as a basis for a constructive debate with relatively few irrelevant (insulting, aggressive and vulgar) arguments. On the other hand, the article shows that there is still considerable nostalgia for the Soviet Union and its artifacts in Kaliningrad Oblast.

scholarly journals Emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union in the 1960-1970s through the eyes of the American press

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-160
Author(s):  
Alexey V. Antoshin ◽  
Dmitry L. Strovsky
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
American Press ◽  
The Usa ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
First Time

The article analyzes the features of Soviet emigration and repatriation in the second half of the 1960s through the early 1970s, when for the first time after a long period of time, and as a result of political agreements between the USSR and the USA, hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews were able to leave the Soviet Union for good and settle in the United States and Israel. Our attention is focused not only on the history of this issue and the overall political situation of that time, but mainly on the peculiarities of this issue coverage by the leading American printed media. The reference to the media as the main empirical source of this study allows not only perceiving the topic of emigration and repatriation in more detail, but also seeing the regularities of the political ‘face’ of the American press of that time. This study enables us to expand the usual framework of knowledge of emigration against the background of its historical and cultural development in the 20th century.

The Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Andreyev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
State And Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
War Aims ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World

After a long period of scholarly neglect, owing partly to political reasons, the Second World War is now being studied as an integral part of the history of the Soviet Union. This chapter considers the war’s far reaching effects on state and society, taking a multi-faceted, comparative view. Beginning with German and Soviet war aims, the chapter goes on to highlight recent historiography, which has revealed much about the experience of the individual Soviet soldier and has emphasized that by concentrating on military set-pieces, such as the battle of Stalingrad, we risk distorting our understanding of the war. Also discussed are controversial subjects such as collaboration and partisan warfare, and the impact of the war on the Russian Orthodox Church and on Russian national identity.

scholarly journals THE IMAGE OF A FEMALE HEROINE OF THE WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF IDEOLOGY: ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE MOVIE «THE SNIPERS» BY B.SHAMSHIEV

2020 ◽  
pp. 580-587
Author(s):  
N.M. Stanaliev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Female Hero ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Cinema ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Communication Methods ◽  
Ideological Construction

Modern social science pays more attention to the study of social consciousness, forms and means of communication, methods of self-identification of human communities. A sufficient number of studies can be found on the influence of information on mass consciousness. In this regard, some thoughts and research have arisen about how a certain ideology can penetrate the consciousness of people through the media. This interest of scientists is largely related to various sources (text, visual, etc.) of information in modern society, which is accessible to the masses. This work focuses on the forms of representation of ideology aimed at the masses. Within the framework of the work, a brief history of Soviet cinema, cinema as a means of building the ideology of the Soviet era, and a review of literature in the context of this topic were presented. In order to identify the forms of transmission of ideology, the Van Dyck method of ideological discourse is used. An example of the study is the film " Snipers” by Bolotbek Shamshiev, a film based on the exploits of Aliya Moldagulova during the Great Patriotic War. Using this method of analysis, the film examined the forms of ideological construction through ideological discourses. Soviet sniper Aliya Moldagulova, who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, presented as a female hero in the 1985 film "Snipers", is considered an ideological icon. The transformation of Moldagulova into an icon was carried out within the framework of socialist ideology in the form of militarism, equality of men and women, courage, etc.

Autochthony, Belonging, and Xenophobia in Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Geschiere
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
World Order ◽  
Deep Uncertainty ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Global Context ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

The renewed relevance of “autochthony” and similar notions of belonging in many parts of Africa is symptomatic of the confusing changes on the continent since the “post-Cold War moment.” Africa is certainly not exceptional in this respect. The “new world order,” so triumphantly announced by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the apparent victory of capitalism turned out to be marked by intensifying global flows, as expected, but also by an increasing obsession with belonging all over the globe, which was less expected. Yet, it may be important to emphasize as well that this upsurge of struggles over local belonging took on special aspects in Africa. The notion of autochthony has its own history on the continent, going back to the impact of colonialism, but building on older distinctions. However, it always sat uneasily with what many historians and anthropologists see as characteristic for African social formations: a heavy emphasis on mobility and inclusion of people: wealth in people. Since the last decades of the 20th century, there seems to be an increasing closure of local communities in many parts of the continent: a growing emphasis on exclusion rather than inclusion of newcomers, immigrants, or “strangers.” After a brief sketch of the history of autochthony on the continent, also in relation to parallel notions like ethnicity and indigeneity, the focus is placed on the factors behind such a tendency toward closure: increasing land scarcity, and especially the changing global context since 1990. In many parts of the continent, the neo-liberal twin of democratization and decentralization had the effect that the feeling of belonging to the village became of crucial importance again, as well for people who had already lived for generations in the cities. The implications of such a growing preoccupation with autochthony and local belonging for national citizenship and notions on civil society are highly variable and depend on historical context. However, one recurrent trait is the paradox between a promise of basic security (how can one belong more than if one is rooted in the soil?) and a practice of deep uncertainty. The receding quality of these claims to belong—autochthony as a basic denial of history, which always implies movement—allows that they always can be contested: One’s autochthony can always be unmasked as “fake,” with someone else belonging more. Autochthony can be institutionalized in various forms and to various degrees, but its basic uncertainty gives it a violent potential.

Memory Makers of the Great Patriotic War

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-32
Author(s):  
Anne E. Hasselmann
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
War Memory ◽  
War Narrative ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Red Army ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
War Commemoration

In the wake of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Soviet museum curators began to establish a museal depiction of the war. This article analyzes these early beginnings of Soviet war commemoration and the curtailing of its surprising heterogeneity in late Stalinism. Historical research has largely ignored the impact of Soviet museum workers (muzeishchiki) on the evolution of Russian war memory. Archival material from the Red Army Museum, now renamed the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, in Moscow and the Belarus Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War in Minsk documents the unfolding of locally specific war exhibitions which stand in stark contrast to the later homogenized official Soviet war narrative. Yet war memory was not created unilaterally by the curators. Visitors also participated in its making, as the museum guestbooks demonstrate. As “sites of commemoration and learning,” early Soviet war exhibitions reveal the agency of the muzeishchiki and the involvement of the visitors in the “small events” of memory creation.

Ethnic and Class Stratification in Soviet Kazakhstan, 1917–39

1975 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lane
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Ethnic Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Class Stratification ◽  
History Of ◽  
Analytical Category ◽  
The Impact

In the sociological literature, the study of inter-ethnic relations has been dominated either by the problem of the black-white conflict in the U.S.A. or by the controversy over whether social relations in colonial and excolonial countries are ‘pluralistic’. The history of the Soviet Union provides quite a different context in which various ethnic groups, each with peculiar traditions and languages and at various levels of social, political and economic development, have interacted one with another. Study of the Soviet Union enables one to compare the role of Marxist-Leninist ideology in an ethnically mixed community with the usual examples of the impact of religious and ‘imperialist’ belief systems, and it may help to clarify whether ‘ethnic group’ is a useful analytical category or whether ‘ethnic relations’ can be explained in terms of the more traditional classifications of class, status and power.

scholarly journals Public Opinion, Journalism and the Question of Finland’s Membership of NATO

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juho Rahkonen
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Military Alliance ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Nato Enlargement ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The big question behind the research on media and democracy is: do media influence public opinion and the actual policy? The discussion about Finland’s NATO membership is a case in point. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, there has been a continuous public debate about whether Finland should join NATO. In the last 16 years, however, public opinion on NATO membership has not changed much. Despite the changes in world politics, such as NATO enlargement and new weapons technology, Finns still rely on military non-alliance and want to keep their own army strong. During the last ten years, there seems to be no correlation between media coverage and public opinion: pro-NATO media content has not been able to make Finns’ attitudes towards NATO more positive. The information provided by most of the Finnish newspapers is different from the way ordinary people see NATO. In the papers’ view, joining the alliance would be a natural step in Finland’s integration into Western democratic organizations. Ordinary people on the contrary consider NATO more as a (U.S. led) military alliance which is not something Finland should be a part of. Historical experiences also discourage military alignment. In the light of data drawn from newspaper articles and opinion polls, the article suggests that journalism has had only a slight effect on public opinion about Finland’s NATO membership. The NATO issue does not count for much in any measurements that have been made regarding the preferences of Finnish voters. As the NATO issue is not considered to be important, most people do not have enough motivation to learn about NATO. Thus, the journalistic interpretation of NATO has not reached the general public, leaving the impact of the media limited.

Jazz, Power, and Soviet Youth in the Early Cold War, 1948−1953

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gleb Tsipursky
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Competition ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact

Examining the history of jazz in the Soviet Union between 1948 and 1953, this essay sheds light on the role of popular music in the cultural competition of the early Cold War. While the Soviet authorities pursued a tolerant policy toward jazz during World War II because of its wartime alliance with the United States, the outbreak of the Cold War in the late 1940s led to a decisive turn against this music. The Communist Party condemned jazz as the music of the “foreign bourgeoisie,” instead calling for patriotic Soviet music. Building on previous studies of the complex fate of western music in the USSR during the postwar decades, this article highlights a previously unexamined youth counterculture of jazz enthusiasts, exploring the impact of anti-jazz initiatives on grassroots cultural institutions, on the everyday cultural practices of young people, and on the Cold War’s cultural front in the USSR. It relies on sources from central and regional archives, official publications, and memoirs, alongside oral interviews with jazz musicians and cultural officials.

«Квapтиpный вoпpoc» в Зaпaднoй Бeлopуccии и eвpeйcкoe нaceлeниe, 1939–1940 гг.

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanina Karpenkina
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Housing Policy ◽  
Jewish Population ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Housing Problem ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
The Impact

This article examines Soviet housing policy in the annexed former Polish territories of Western Belorussia and Western Ukraine, which the ussr absorbed in September 1939. The author focuses on Western Belorussia and in particular on Bialystok, which was the largest and most economically developed city in the region. Bialystok and the Bialystok region contained the largest number of refugees, soviet soldiers, party clerks and technical specialists from the Soviet Union. This article looks at the area’s acute housing problem, which resulted in the theft of property and illegal eviction of apartment owners. The Jewish population of Western Belorussia found itself in the epicenter of events, since it was well represented among the refugees, particularly among the illegally evicted housing owners. The author analyzes the housing policy in Western Belorussia prior to the start of the German-Soviet War in 1941, the position of the Jewish population during this period, and the impact of the acute “housing problem” on the Sovietization of the local population.

Soviet Aid to the Spanish Republic in 1936–1939: Modern Conservative Versions

2021 ◽  
pp. 134-142
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Novikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Gold Reserve ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact

The subject of the study is some modern conservative versions of the history of the Soviet Union’s military assistance to the Spanish Republic in 1936–1939. The aim of the article is to attempt a critical analysis of the new and revived versions of the motives of Soviet intervention in the Spanish conflict, of the involvement of the Soviet leadership in large-scale terror against civilians in the republican zone, of the degree of influence of the Soviet leadership and Soviet representatives in Spain on the governmental structure of the Spanish Republic, of the anti-fascist character of the war. The study has established the inconsistency of the versions about Soviet aid as a means of promoting the world revolution in Spain and as an attempt to draw the democratic and fascist states into a major war between themselves through the Spanish conflict, about the possibilities of Stalin in 1936 to manipulate the great powers. It has been proved that conservative historians exaggerate the degree of influence of Stalin and Soviet political representatives in Spain on the military-political leadership of the republic. The impact of the so-called “instruments” of Soviet influence in the Spanish Republic is also exaggerated. The first of the instruments is considered to be the relocation of part of the gold reserve to Moscow, which, allegedly, allowed the Soviet control over the finances of the republic to be established. The second is the activities of Soviet military advisers; the third is the Communist Party of Spain, which was part of the Comintern, and was considered as an obedient tool in the hands of Moscow. It was and still is traditional to attribute responsibility for unleashing large-scale terror against civilians in the republican zone to Stalin, which does not correspond to reality as convincingly proved by the British historian P. Preston in his famous work The Spanish Holocaust. The scale of terror was exaggerated in the republican zone and, accordingly, understated in the Francoist zone. The study shows the failure of attempts to distort the anti-fascist nature of the war waged by the Spanish Republic relying on the support of the Soviet Union, Mexico, the progressive public of most civilized countries of that time, as well as attempts to present the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini and Franco in 1936–1939 as quite respectable. The new and updated critical versions of the Soviet aid to the Spanish Republic considered in the article are the result of the neoconservative wave in western historiography, which influenced representatives of both the classical historical school and the adherents of postmodernism.

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