THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR: COMMEMORATIVE PRACTICES AND IMAGES IN NEWSPAPER PERIODICALS (1946–1965)
The contours of the image of the Great Patriotic War and the Victory formed in the post-war 20th century laid the content of the “matrix” of Russian historical memory. The strengthening trend of national and state-oriented policy of historical memory actualizes addressing the genesis of this image and commemorative (traditions, rituals, symbols). In the USSR, the tool for creating and promoting technologies of commemorative practices, preserving and transmitting the memory of the Great Patriotic War to society was newspapers highly demanded by the Soviet population. The article analyzes the materials published in 1946–1965 in central, regional, and local newspapers (“Pravda”, “Ural’skii rabochii”, “Sovetskaya Sibir′” and “Magnitogorskii Metall”). The use of content and discourse analysis methods made it possible to identify the dynamics in the presentation of the Victory image on the pages of the press: from a chaotic festive extravaganza to a “cultural” recreation of citizens and ritualized practices (laying wreaths, holding concerts, exhibitions). The paper also captures the changes caused by a change in the political situation, a decrease in the intensity of the company, aimed at the labor mobilization of the Soviet society. The 1946–1965 newspapers of various levels reveal the specifics in the coverage of the Victory theme: the central newspapers published more theoretical materials on this topic, while the regional and factory newspapers more often covered practices dedicated to this date (labor, holiday).