scholarly journals Wars of Historical Memory: Social Objectives

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-29
Author(s):  
V. Tkachenko ◽  
V. Yakuba
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Pull Out ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The One ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Heads Of State

The article is a study of the wars of historical memory. The process of increasing use of the historical past in the public life of the present is considered. History has become a political tool through which one or another socio-political system is legitimized or delegitimized. In a number of countries, laws have been passed to punish those who write “wrong”. Real “wars of historical memory” have broken out in international relations. The ethnicization of history and the establishment of narratives about one’s own nation as exclusively a “victim of history” are gaining momentum, which requires special treatment and appropriate compensation. In particular, the initiators of the proclamation of “wars of historical memory” in different countries are not the same. Remembrance wars are often declared at the highest level, involving officials, including heads of state, who “rebuff” and “put in place the wrongdoers”, reminding the nation of the nation’s incurable wounds and the terrible crimes of its neighbors. Objectively, the question of the social motives of the “wars of historical memory” is brewing. The authors share the view that the main reason is the escalation of the confrontation between Russia and the collective West. Historical politics, which has taken the form of “wars of historical memory”, is a symptom rather than a cause of this confrontation. It has been analyzed that the politicization of historical memory often leads to negative consequences, and there is no easy way out of this situation. And it is difficult to find that decisive link, undertaking which it would be possible to pull out the whole chain of pressing problems. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the controversy over the role of the Soviet Union in World War II has not been annihilated, but has intensified amid escalating tensions between East and West. Summarizing the evolution of “wars of historical memory” to a sharp aggravation, Marlene Laruel noted: “I interpret the wars for historical memory between Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other, as narrative «related to the exclusion of Russia from Europe or inclusion in it”.

scholarly journals From DP Camps to the “Green Continent”

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Antoshin
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
New Information ◽  
National Archives ◽  
National University ◽  
National Archives Of Australia ◽  
The Government

This review focuses on a monograph written by Jayne Persian, lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland (Australia). The work is the first complex study devoted to the adaptation of former “displaced persons” (more particularly, émigrés from the Soviet Union) in Australia between the 1940s and 1960s. The work refers to an extensive complex of documents from the National Archives of Australia, the National Archives (United Kingdom), the Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, and interviews with former “displaced persons” residing in Australia. The study is very important because it provides new information on the second wave of Soviet emigration, which is seldom examined by contemporary Russian scholars. Persian demonstrates that political factors played an important role in how the Australian government granted immigration permission. Quite frequently, Australia preferred people who shared anti-communist positions. Therefore, many former collaborators of the World War II era came to Australia; this hindered cooperation between the USSR and Australia. Persian shows that “new Australians” had difficulty integrating into society. The government tried to assimilate them, which pushed the immigrants to seek isolation in their communities. This book helps us understand the controversial character of the state policy of historical memory, a problem that is also very important for contemporary Russia.

State as Transgressor: Šilingas versus the State—A Case Study

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-150
Author(s):  
Svaja Vansauskas Worthington
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
Soviet Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Travel Guide ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Baltic

The usually cheerful Insight Travel Guide to the Baltic States offers this synopsis of the Baltic situation:Their independence was sentenced to death by the Nazi–Soviet Pact [the secret 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact] just before World War II. The pact envisaged the Baltic States would be parceled out between them, but it was overtaken by events with Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. The three states were incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 … Among few other people did the Soviet mill grind finer than in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania … The final injustice was the permanent imposition of Soviet rule and Stalinist terror. Anyone a visitor meets today in the Baltics is likely to have a relation who was sent to Siberia or simply shot.

PROBLEM OF SECURITY IN NORTHERN POLAND FOLLOWING WORLD WAR II

2011 ◽  
Vol 161 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-274
Author(s):  
Wiesław ŁACH
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
World War ◽  
Northern Area ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Northern Border ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Baltic

This article focuses predominantly on analysing the role of the northern area of Poland in the security system of Poland following World War II. The separation of the area from the national defence system of the country resulted from the specific nature of incorporating a part of the former Eastern Prussia into Poland and its neighbourhood with the Soviet Union.In view of the Polish national administration, the area included the Olsztyn Voivodeship and part of the Gdansk Voivodeship east of the Vistula and the Bialystok Voivodeship bordering the Kaliningrad District. According to the military division of the country, the area was part of the Warsaw Military District and the Pomeranian Military District.The time frame was determined by the establishment and ultimate designation of the northern border in 1957, when Poland and the Soviet Union signed a treaty regarding the marking of the existing national border between Poland and the Soviet Union adhering to the Baltic Sea (5 March 1957).The article examines the political and military circumstances in which Poland’s northern border was determined, it assesses it operationally and determines the status of the northern area of Poland in the country’s security system.The subject has not been widely examined and literary sources are scarce. Most of the materials can be found in the Central Military Archives and the Border Guard Archives in Kętrzyn.Northern Poland has always been a key operational area, yet its defensive weakness, in the former political arrangement, was greatly affected by the proximity of the Soviet Union. The problem of defending Poland’s northern border was a dilemma that was increasingly growing in difficulty over the years. There were a large number of factors causing it, and it was in the sphere of defence that they manifested themselves most visibly.

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.

scholarly journals Federalist Plans in Central and Eastern Europe and the Question of the Baltic States in the Context of Polish Politics During World War II

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Kisielewski
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
European Federation ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Polish Government

This paper deals with federalist plans of Central and Eastern Europe during World War II. The Polish government in exile and its Czechoslovak counterpart actively participated in the implementation of such plans. A Central- and Eastern European federation was to be an eventual alternative to Stalin’s plans of Europe’s Sovietization and to Hitler’s ‘New Europe’. For some time these federalist plans were supported by Great Britain and the United States. Besides, in British and American circles there were also other models for creating a European regional union. On 11 November 1940 Poland and Czechoslovakia managed to sign a declaration on the formation of a federation. However, soon disagreements concerning attitudes towards the Soviet Union as well as over Lithuania’s place in the federation arose.

About the beginning of World War II: historical and legal research. Part two

2021 ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Konstantin S. Rodionov
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The One ◽  
Second World

This article is a continuation of the one that was published in the journal “State and Law” in 2020 (No. 8). It examines the circumstances of Hitler's decision to attack Poland on September 1, 1939, which began the Second World War. The author decides what influenced his acceptance more - the policy of appeasement, which Britain and France adhered to in relation to Hitler, or the signing by the Soviet Union of an additional secret protocol to the Non-Aggression Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) signed by its parties on August 23, 1939?

scholarly journals “Rebellious Parliament”: period of the “policy of reservations” in Denmark-NATO Relations (1982-1988)

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-57
Author(s):  
Nikita Evgen'evich Belukhin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Policy Position ◽  
European Security ◽  
Official Position ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The One ◽  
The Cold War

The object of this research is the foreign policy of Denmark in the 1980s. The subject of this research on the one hand is the ideological foundations of Denmark's foreign policy during this period, which were strongly affected by the ideas of European social democracy, and on the other hand – the influence of the Danish Parliament (Folketing) upon the formation of Denmark’s official position on the issues of European security discussed within the framework of NATO. Denmark’s refutation of neutrality after the World War II and its entry into NATO in many ways determined the foreign policy position of Denmark throughout the Cold War as a small European state that perceived the Soviet Union as a threat to national security. At the same time, the desire of Denmark of maintain maximum flexibility and avoid making far-reaching commitments within the framework of NATO, led to the fact that Denmark was often perceived as an unreliable and inconvenient ally. The period from 1982 to 1988 indicates the Atlantic dissidence of Denmark and simultaneous improvement of relations with the Soviet Union), when Denmark’s representatives in the NATO sessions, being obliged to take into account the position of the parliamentary majority in the Folketing, were forced to make reservations to the final documents of the sessions, expressing disagreement or criticism of implemented measures. Among the Russian scholars dealing with the history of Denmark, this period has not yet received wide coverage. This article is an attempt to describe and explain the causes and consequences of the period of the “policy of reservations” for Denmark’s foreign policy in the context of the end of Cold War and in the conditions of transition towards the post-bipolar system of international relations.

scholarly journals SLAVIC COMMUNITIES IN AUSTRALIA: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND THE CURRENT SITUATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
Olena Romanenko
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Median Income ◽  
National Unity ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Australian Continent

Migration to the Australian continent has ancient origins. On 1 January 1901, the Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia included six former colonies: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, and Western Australia. The British origin had 78% of those who were born overseas. The immigration was high on the national agenda. The most ambitious nation-building plan based on immigration was adopted in Australia in the post-World War II period. The shock of the war was so strong that even old stereotypes did not prevent Australians from embarking on immigration propaganda with the slogan “Populate or Perish”. In the middle 1950s, the Australian Department of Immigration realized that family reunion was an important component of successful settlement. In 1955 the Department implemented “Operation Reunion” – a scheme was intended to assist family members overseas to migrate to the continent and reunite with the family already living in Australia. As a result, 30000 people managed to migrate from countries such as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and the former Yugoslavia under this scheme. Today Australia’s approach to multicultural affairs is a unique model based on integration and social cohesion. On governmental level, the Australians try to maintain national unity through respect and preservation of cultural diversity. An example of such an attitude to historical memory is a database created by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). For our research, we decided to choose information about residents of East-Central European origin (Ukraine-born, Poland-born, and Czech Republic-born citizens) in Australia, based on the information from the above mentioned database. The article provides the brief historical background of Polish, Ukrainian and Czech groups on the Continent and describes the main characteristics of these groups of people, such as geographic distribution, age, language, religion, year of arrival, median income, educational qualifications, and employment characteristics.

Social Science’s Cold War

2019 ◽  
pp. 65-90
Author(s):  
Michael C. Desch
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
World War ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One

This chapter details how with the end of the Second World War, social science disciplines were pulled in two diametrically opposed directions. The general intellectual climate of the post-World War II/early Cold War era was one of great optimism about professionalizing and modernizing the social sciences on the model of the natural sciences. This impulse especially affected political science. However, the inherent tensions between “rigor” and “relevance” reasserted themselves once again, and it became clear that a peacetime choice between them might have to be made. On the one hand, the experience of the war, and the growing realization that the country faced a protracted period of rivalry with the Soviet Union, encouraged the disciplines to try to remain relevant to policy. On the other hand, the mixed security environment and desire to remake the social sciences in the image of the natural sciences eventually pushed them away from it.

A Soviet West: nationhood, regionalism, and empire in the annexed western borderlands

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Risch
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Guerrilla Warfare ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
Capitalist World ◽  
The Baltic

This article considers the role the Soviet Union's western borderlands annexed during World War II played in the evolution of Soviet politics of empire. Using the Baltic Republics and Western Ukraine as case studies, it argues that Sovietization had a profound impact on these borderlands, integrating them into a larger Soviet polity. However, guerrilla warfare and Soviet policy-making indirectly led to these regions becoming perceived as more Western and nationalist than other parts of the Soviet Union. The Baltic Republics and Western Ukraine differed in their engagement with the Western capitalist world. Different experiences of World War II and late Stalinism and contacts with the West ultimately led to this region becoming Soviet, yet different from the rest of the Soviet Union. While the Soviet West was far from uniform, perceived differences between it and the rest of the Soviet Union justified claims at the end of the 1980s that the Soviet Union was an empire rather than a family of nations.

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