scholarly journals The World War II and its falsification in the Russian youth representations

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-322
Author(s):  
E. G. Ponomareva
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Special Role ◽  
World War ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
State Institute ◽  
The World ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Analytical Centers

The events of the World War II play a special role in the contemporary social discourse as the basis of collective memory and civil culture. The current attempts of some Western countries to misrepresent and rewrite the history of the World War II and to belittle the role of the Red Army in the rout of Nazism pursue serious geopolitical goals. Effective opposition to the falsification of history depends on the quality of youths knowledge about that period (active historical memory) and the younger generations emotional association with the war winner. The article presents the results of the sociological study conducted on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. First, there was a survey at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (students aged 18-23) to identify the level of historical knowledge and assessments, sources (fiction and movies) of representations, ideas about reasons for the falsification of the World War II history and measures to oppose it. The questions were divided into three groups: historical (the level of basic knowledge), cultural-pedagogic, or emotional (questions about books and movies) and evaluative-predictive (reasons for the falsification of history and measures to oppose it). The study also aimed at comparing the results of the survey with all-Russian opinion polls and foreign surveys. Second, the author analyzed estimates of the reasons for the falsification of the war history and suggestions to oppose this negative trend, which were provided by leading experts from Russian and foreign universities and analytical centers. The comparison of the students and experienced researchers opinions revealed both similarities and differences in generational estimates, and allowed to identify some general ways to resist the intensified trend of the falsification of the war history.

scholarly journals A few remarks on East Prussia goldsmith heritage in Lithuania

Menotyra ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia Vasiliūnienė
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
World War ◽  
German Scientist ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
East Prussia ◽  
Second World

The newly identified goldsmiths’ works of East Prussia are presented in the article: a chalice from Kaunas St. Cross Church forged by Otto Schwerdfeger, a master in Königsberg, in 1704 (?), a ciborium from Vilnius St. Apostles Peter and Paul Church made by goldsmith Johann Kownatzky in Tilsit in the 1760–80s, and a monstrance from Valakbūdis Church made by Michael Greiffenhagen II, a master from Tilsit, in 1795 (?). After the World War II, East Prussia was annexed by the Soviet Union. Destruction of the region and its historical memory and enormous losses of the cultural heritage partly resulted in knowledge gaps in Lithuania about the goldsmithing in this region. For the knowledge of goldsmith history in East Prussia, works by Eugen von Czihak, a German scientist, based on the information collected before the First and Second World Wars are very important. The goldsmithing of Eastern Prussia is pretty seldom mentioned in the Lithuanian historiography. Only sparsely survived works by Königsberg, Tilsit and Klaipėda (Memel) masters from the 17th – 19th century have been published. On the contrary, the context of Lithuanian goldsmith history is described based on data provided by the German writings. According to our knowledge, the goldsmith heritage from Königsberg predominates in Lithuania. Not a few goldsmith works from Tilsit were also identified in Lithuania. The works of Eastern Prussian goldsmiths are of particular value. Because of the dramatic fate of Königsberg region, the survived number of goldsmith works throughout Europe is relatively low.

“A World of Tomorrow”: Trauma, Urbicide, and Documentation in A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-206
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Cornish
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
National Identity ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Collective Trauma ◽  
World War ◽  
Publication History ◽  
The World ◽  
Red Army ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

The World War II diary A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City (2005) documents one woman’s story of survival in the spring of 1945 in Berlin, during which upward of 130,000 women were raped by soldiers of the Red Army. First, this essay introduces the politics of recuperating the English translation of the diary within the context of the scant supporting historical documentation and memorialization of Berliner women’s experience during the occupation. Second, it demonstrates how the diary produces a feminist account of survival and a narrative for collective trauma by examining the diarist’s representations of the effects of rape and rubblestrewn Berlin. Third, the essay details the complicated publication history of the diary through a consideration of the relationship between the trauma sustained by the survivors of mass rape and the blows to German national identity that it documents.

scholarly journals Silesian Harm and Upper Silesian Awakening

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Anna Muś
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
World War ◽  
Upper Silesia ◽  
The World ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Definition Of

The first part of the paper introduces the definition of the term Silesian harm and describes ways in which it can be observed among Upper Silesians. Further, the author elaborates on how the phenomenon emerged during the interwar period and how it was strengthened during and after the World War II, which led to exacerbation of national and ethnic conflicts in Upper Silesia. One of the effects of the World War II, was the invasion of the Red Army on Silesian lands and a wave of hatred, which led to the tragedy of the civilian population, referred to today as the Upper Silesian Tragedy. In the end, mechanisms of strengthening and consolidation of the sense of harm and abuse among the population of Upper Silesia are studied. The role of the Silesian harm in the process called 'the Upper Silesian awakening' has been scarcely studied in scholarly literature before, but its evolution indicates that the role it plays among the indigenous population of Upper Silesia has changed. Silesian harm is no longer seen as a stigma, but it has become a motivation for social and political action and participation.

scholarly journals Activities of political agencies and inner organisations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) to strengthen the Party influence on the Red Army Air Force personnel during a radical change in the World War II East Front

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 46-53
Author(s):  
Sergey S. Lantukhov
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
World War ◽  
The World ◽  
Red Army

The article presents the main directions and results of the activities of the political bodies of the Air Force of the Red Army to strengthen the Communist Party influence on servicemen in order to increase the combat readiness of aviation compounds during a fundamental change during the World War II. The measures to improve the organisational structure of the Party organisations, replenishing the ranks of Bolsheviks in the army, a change in the qualitative composition and conduct of political and upbringing work among the party members. During the study, the reasons for the quantitative expansion of the Party layer in the ranks of the Air Force, simplifying the entry into the ranks of the Communists, along with a qualitative change in the composition of the Party series are disclosed. The reorganisation of the Komsomol is considered in detail and its importance during the fundamental change in the World War II. The scientific article is written using the sources of the central archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, some of which has been published for the first time. The study of this problem allows the use of accumulated military experience, which can be used in the face of non-party principle of the modern Armed Forces of Russia.

scholarly journals Typology of historical memory about the World War II: Methodological aspects of the study (on the example of the RUDN students)

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-306
Author(s):  
Zh. V. Puzanova ◽  
N. P. Narbut ◽  
T. I. Larina ◽  
A. G. Tertyshnikova
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Social Force ◽  
World War ◽  
Family Stories ◽  
Mass Consciousness ◽  
The World ◽  
Cognitive Knowledge ◽  
Methodological Aspects

The study of mass consciousness is one of the most pressing sociological issues. Historical memory is a part of mass consciousness, and it is obvious that the historical memory about any event has its specifics in different societies. Today memories about the World War II became an object of manipulation for various political forces that aim at changing public opinion in favor of particular parties, and the youth is especially affected by such influence. The student youth is a reactive social force and can subsequently transfer such influence into actions. Therefore, the study of the international students types of historical memory provides a unique opportunity to reveal the global perception of the World War II. The article presents a typology of historical memory based on the classical structure of social attitude as consisting of affective (views on the justice of the war results), cognitive (knowledge of the war milestones) and behavioral components (knowledge and participation in commemorative events, and family stories). There are nine types of historical memory: personal-historical, dispositional, formal-historical, emotional-historical, fragmentary-historical, mythological-historical, subjective-historical, value-historical, lack-of-memory. The majority of students have an emotional-historical, formal-historical types and lack-of-memory. Without lacking-memory students, the share of which is smaller among Russian students, foreign students have mainly an emotional-historical and formal-historical types of memory, while Russian students rather formal-historical and value-historical types. The article explains the way for identifying types of memory. Thus, it can be useful for methodologists and researchers in sociology of history.

Unruly actors: Latvian women of the Red Army in post-war historical memory

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 987-1007
Author(s):  
Daina Eglitis ◽  
Vita Zelče
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
World War ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Women Volunteers ◽  
Post War ◽  
Historical Accounts

This work highlights the case of Latvian women volunteers of the Red Army who worked and fought on the eastern fronts of World War II. An estimated 70,000–85,000 Latvians served in the Red Army, some as conscripts, others as volunteers. At least several hundred of those who volunteered were women. How are Latvian women volunteers of the Red Army represented and remembered in Soviet and post-Soviet historical accounts of World War II? Why have they not been remembered in most historical accounts of this period? How are ethnicity, gender, and associated social roles implicated in their historical marginality? These questions are situated in the context of literature on collective memory and microsociological literature on social roles, and used to develop the analytical concept of the unruly actor – historical actors who are challenges to dominant memory narratives because they fail to conform to normative social roles ascribed on the basis of, among others, gender and ethnicity. We use the case of Latvian women volunteers to articulate the argument that the marginality of some groups in dominant historical narratives can be understood in terms of their disruption of the historical “scene”, which is configured to reflect a desired social order.

scholarly journals Wars of Historical Memory (to the Statement of the Problem)

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
V. Tkachenko ◽  
V. Yakuba
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Political System ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
World War ◽  
George Washington ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Washington University ◽  
Great Victory

The article is a study of historical memory wars. In particular, the director of the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies of the School of International Relations named after Elliott, George Washington University (Washington) Marlene Larwell most convexly and provocatively outlined the front of the wars of historical memory: “By identifying who can be labeled a ‘fascist’, we get the perfect Europe”. If Russia is fascist(that is, Putin’s regime can be typified as fascist or the Soviet past, which the Kremlin does not want to condemn, is equivalent to Nazism, as Central and Eastern European states claim), then Russia should be excluded from Europe. In addition, it was analyzed that politics continues to interfere with the interpretation of history, sowing antagonism between peoples. It has been found that “wars of historical memory” have become one of the important components of modern geopolitics, and as such they deserve to be the subject of a separate scientific study. Today, this is especially true to those pressing issues of history that flared up on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the problem has matured before, and now has simply entered the phase of “wars of historical memory”, there were anniversary events in Moscow in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory five years ago (2015). After Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, these celebrations took place without the presence of Western leaders. This was perceived by the Kremlin (or portrayed by him) as an insult and denial of the great victims of World War II – because they often write about the 27 million “Russians”who laid their lives on the altar of Victory. At the same time, the multinational composition of the Red Army is somehow not specified. And this approach does not improve mutual understanding between peoples. The article concludes that history, unfortunately, has become a political tool through which to legitimize or delegitimize a particular socio-political system.

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