Logo
June 22, 2016

WWII in Russian Cultural Memory

WWII in Russian Cultural Memory
June 22nd, as any student of Soviet history knows, is the day remembered in the official histories as the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. A popular song of the era opened with the lines, "Kiev was bombed/and then we were told/the war has just begun."
 
Of course, serial occupations began on the western borders of the USSR much earlier, in 1939, but these Soviet annexation of parts of Poland, southeastern Karelia and Salla in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the Hertza region of Romania remain outside of the gaze of the Russian historiography of WWII. 
 

A casual encounter with Russian popular culture may leave a Western observer puzzled at the insistence on recasting the past. While it was possible to see the final tableau of the Sochi Olympic games opening ceremony as a Russian version of "Mad Men" nostalgia, various observers and commentators have also pointed to this retro trend as a symptom of stagnation, a deficit of (at least official) national imagination.

But, in reality, there is a 70-year tradition of placing World War II, and sanctioned interpretations of it, at the heart of Russian popular culture.

A collection of recent war-themed TV productions on Rusichi is a continuation of this trend, with films ranging from Major Sokolov's Courtesans to Death to Spies. The wide variety of warriors in these films – White Guard officers, Red Cavalry men, infantry officers from the Belorussian front, NKVD and SMERSH agents undercover in the rear – appear to be united by the same ultimate goal of ensuring the greatness of their country, whether it entails expanding the imperial borders or retaking occupied territories. A continuity emerges: from the First World War, to the Civil War, to the Great Patriotic War.

A critic writes:

One may be left thinking that the veritable avalanche of historical TV series aimed not only to distract the Russian public from the country's everyday problems – corruption, unemployment, alcoholism, drug abuse – but also to inspire a new pride. <...> Meaning, we may be experiencing temporary difficulties, because enemies are all around us, but we will rise again and return to our former glory.

Whether the heroes of the films are in Crimea to uncover anti-Soviet plots (SMERSH) or choosing to serve the government that had arrested their parents (Women Scouts), good is on their side, and the ultimate goal of defending the country justifies any sacrifice.

Romanticizing war appears to be fruitful TV turf; thus far, however, the enterprise has failed to yield works that engage moral dimensions of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian policies or that accommodate non-Russian narratives of WWII. For the time being, war is firmly ensconced in the Russian popular imagination as the one truly glorious chapter in the nation's past.

Tags: warworld war iistalinfilm

You Might Also Like

Not to Be Forgotten
  • May 09, 2016

Not to Be Forgotten

For 45 years, the Cold War made it politically incorrect to recognize Soviet sacrifices and victories in defeating Hitler in World War II. This essay from 2010 is still relevant today.
Query
Template: /muraWRM/core/mura/content/feed/feedGateway.cfc:250
Execution Time: 0.828 ms
Record Count: 0
Cached: No
Lazy: No
SQL:
SELECT
tcontent.siteid, tcontent.title, tcontent.menutitle, tcontent.restricted, tcontent.restrictgroups,
tcontent.type, tcontent.subType, tcontent.filename, tcontent.displaystart, tcontent.displaystop,
tcontent.remotesource, tcontent.remoteURL,tcontent.remotesourceURL, tcontent.keypoints,
tcontent.contentID, tcontent.parentID, tcontent.approved, tcontent.isLocked, tcontent.contentHistID,tcontent.target, tcontent.targetParams,
tcontent.releaseDate, tcontent.lastupdate,tcontent.summary,
tfiles.fileSize,tfiles.fileExt,tcontent.fileid,
tcontent.tags,tcontent.credits,tcontent.audience, tcontent.orderNo,
tcontentstats.rating,tcontentstats.totalVotes,tcontentstats.downVotes,tcontentstats.upVotes,
tcontentstats.comments, tparent.type parentType,
tcontent.path, tcontent.created, tcontent.nextn, tcontent.majorVersion, tcontent.minorVersion, tcontentstats.lockID, tcontentstats.lockType, tcontent.expires,
tfiles.filename as AssocFilename,tcontent.displayInterval,tcontent.display,tcontentfilemetadata.altText as fileAltText,tcontent.changesetid
FROM
tcontent
left Join tfiles on (tcontent.fileid=tfiles.fileid)
left Join tcontentstats on (tcontent.contentid=tcontentstats.contentid
and tcontent.siteid=tcontentstats.siteid)
Left Join tcontent tparent on (tcontent.parentid=tparent.contentid
and tcontent.siteid=tparent.siteid
and tparent.active=1)
Left Join tcontentfilemetadata on (tcontent.fileid=tcontentfilemetadata.fileid
and tcontent.contenthistid=tcontentfilemetadata.contenthistid
and tcontent.siteid=tcontentfilemetadata.siteid)
WHERE
tcontent.siteid in ('default')
and tcontent.active = 1
and tcontent.Approved = 1
AND tcontent.isNav = 1
AND tcontent.moduleid = '00000000000000000000000000000000000'
AND tcontent.searchExclude = 0
AND tcontent.contentid <> '00000000000000000000000000000000001'
AND tcontent.type <>'Module'
and (
tcontent.parentid
=
'72329030-5056-A853-0E440CCEABE39756'
and
tcontent.subtype
=
'footnote'
)
AND (
tcontent.Display = 1
OR
(
tcontent.Display = 2
AND
(
(
tparent.type!='Calendar'
and tcontent.DisplayStart <=
{ts '2026-04-02 00:40:00'}
and (tcontent.DisplayStop >=
{ts '2026-04-02 00:40:00'} or tcontent.DisplayStop is null)
) OR (
tparent.type='Calendar'
and tcontent.DisplayStart <=
{ts '2027-04-02 00:40:00'}
and (tcontent.DisplayStop >=
{ts '2026-04-02 00:40:00'} or tcontent.DisplayStop is null)
)
)
)
)
AND (
tcontent.mobileExclude is null
OR
tcontent.mobileExclude in (0,1)
)
order by
tcontent.lastUpdate desc
siteidtitlemenutitlerestrictedrestrictgroupstypesubTypefilenamedisplaystartdisplaystopremotesourceremoteURLremotesourceURLkeypointscontentIDparentIDapprovedisLockedcontentHistIDtargettargetParamsreleaseDatelastupdatesummaryfileSizefileExtfileidtagscreditsaudienceorderNoratingtotalVotesdownVotesupVotescommentsparentTypepathcreatednextnmajorVersionminorVersionlockIDlockTypeexpiresAssocFilenamedisplayIntervaldisplayfileAltTextchangesetid
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Related Content

Nina Shevchuk-Murray
Nina Shevchuk-Murray
Nina Shevchuk-Murray came to the US from Ukraine, where she grew up in Lviv. She earned a degree in poetry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her translations include Peter Aleshkovsky’s Stargorod and Fish, as well as Oksana Zabuzhko’s Museum of Abandoned Secrets. Nina’s poetry has been included in Untidy Seasons, an anthology of works by Nebraska women poets.
Read More
May 9, 2016
Not to Be Forgotten
Not to Be Forgotten

For 45 years, the Cold War made it politically incorrect to recognize Soviet sacrifices and victories in defeating Hitler in World War II. This essay from 2010 is still relevant today.

Read More

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Useful Links

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955

[email protected]