The World War In The Scope Of Historical Memory

Abstract

Memory policy is one of the important components for the integrity of the state. It plays significant role to make an image of the past in the opinion of the younger generation, as well as directly affects modern foreign policy. The issue of memory policy is particularly acute for when the history is being rewritten on the world stage and the significance of the Soviet Union in the World War II is being decreased. In crisis periods of history, on the brink of which we currently stand, to overcome the above-mentioned negative trends is of particular importance and not just stimulation, but the change in the moral climate of the whole society, as well as amendments to the content and the field of Patriotic education, through a broad initiation to the historical roots and examples of crisis moments by the unity of all citizens of the state. There is an acute need to create not just a significant resource base to ensure security within various spheres of society's and the state's life, but also to develop means that allow to protect the most vulnerable areas related to both traditional (military) and societal security of the Russian Federation by combining theoretical and practical developments. Herewith to combine the efforts of authorities and various public organizations, providing for the speed up of process of national consolidation and leading to an increase in the overall security level.

Keywords: Historical memorynational and societal securitymodern communicationsPR technologies

Introduction

The study topicality is caused, firstly, by insufficient knowledge and development of topic within historical and political science; secondly, by complex Russian political and economic processes associated with significant bifurcation points in the political history of the country, as well as dilemmas of development on the basic historical stages of modernization and establishment of modern political system of the country; thirdly, by evolutionary and revolutionary components in the political history of Russia; fourthly, by the need to preserve historical memory as the basis of formation of Patriotic and moral-psychological qualities required to perform duties on the provision of traditional (military) and social security within modern conditions (Mitrofanova, 2019a); fifth, as the study is inextricably associated with the issue of strengthening of national consent of citizens to preserve the territorial and national unity of modern Russia in the period of political turbulence (Mamaeva & Zubov, 2009).

Memory policy is one of the important components for the integrity of the state. It plays significant role to make an image of the past in the opinion of the younger generation, as well as directly affects modern foreign policy. The issue of memory policy is particularly acute for when the history is being rewritten on the world stage and the significance of the Soviet Union in the World War II is being decreased (Zubov, 2018). In this scope, the memory policy should be read as a purposeful activity to represent the chosen image of the past within the modern political framework, which involves verbal and visual means to perform this policy (Kulakova, 2018)

Ensuring the security of the Russian Federation, its citizens, state and public institutions is one of the priorities for the state, which is reflected in significant Federal budget expenditures on "National defense" and "National security and law enforcement". Herewith significant resources are provided to ensure information and other types of security, where the attention has been sharply increased to.

Interdisciplinary research is located at the intersection of such disciplines as political science, political history, sociology and conflict studies, as well as social anthropology and religious studies.

Problem Statement

Due to the high socio-political significance of the scientific and theoretical understanding of the role of the armed forces within the "bifurcation points" of history, the interaction of army and political power for the stable functioning of the state, the study of this issue is one of the most important research tasks. In crisis periods of history, on the brink of which we currently stand, to overcome the above-mentioned negative trends is of particular importance and not just stimulation, but the change in the moral climate of the whole society, as well as amendments to the content and the field of Patriotic education, through a broad initiation to the historical roots and examples of crisis moments by the unity of all citizens of the state.

There is an acute need to create not just a significant resource base to ensure security within various spheres of society's and the state's life, but also to develop means that allow to protect the most vulnerable areas related to both traditional (military) and societal security of the Russian Federation by combining theoretical and practical developments (Matveev & Lutsenko, 2019; Tonkavich et al., 2018).

Herewith to combine the efforts of authorities and various public organizations, providing for the speed up of process of national consolidation and leading to an increase in the overall security level.

Research Questions

- to generalize the practice of applying PR technologies to preserve historical memory as an important condition for societal security (Rodionova, 2020);

- to analyze the perception of the Red Army's actions among modern youth in Russia and Europe;

- to search for correlation dependence between the actions of the state and the perception of the exploits of Soviet heroes of soldiers-liberators (Mamaeva & Zubov, 2009).

- to analyze the impact of military-political units on the political stability of modern Russia under the lens of historical experience (Kulakova, 2016, 2018);

- to summarize the results and identify the role of the armed forces in bifurcation periods of history.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the project is to develop new models of interaction between the authorities and public organizations of the community in the field of overcoming threats to the societal security of the Russian Federation within modern conditions (Kuznetsov & Rodionova, 2018).

For that matter the basic purpose of the study is the analysis of the perception of the Red Army's actions among the modern youth of Russia and Europe as well as the search for correlation dependence between state actions and perception of exploits of heroes of the Soviet soldiers-liberators.

Research Methods

The methodological basis of the research is based on the following basic principles: namely the priority of universal values, consideration of political realities, historicism, objectivity and scientificity. When considering the methodology as a system of certain methods for solving a given scientific issue, the following methods have been used: namely logical, induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, system-related, comparative-historical, problem-chronological, periodization, etc.

Methodological approaches are used in the interrelation of approaches of economic, political and historical science: namely structural-functional, system, neo-institutional approaches, theories of exchange and rational choice.

The application of these methods allowed to present the researched issue as a system being in a tense equilibrium, to highlight existing contradictions, to specify the relationship of history and modernity, the basic features and trends, which became the basis for the research of historic symbols in the political processes of Russia, as well as the most important bifurcation points in the political history of the country, dilemmas of development on the basic historical stages of political modernization and the establishment of a modern political system, evolutionary and revolutionary components in the political history of the country. It should be basically emphasized that the logic of the historical one comes down to the use of the variety of techniques and methods of scientific research as well as deep and comprehensive study of an issue. Along with these methods the following special ones have been used: namely averaged statistical method, content analysis, event analysis and expert survey.

The "World War in the scope of historical memory" author's research has been conducted. The practical matter of the research provided for the survey of respondents using a questionnaire method. The pilot study sampling made 80 people. Respondents have been asked 19 questions. The questions were directed to specify attitudes to the World War II (1,2,6,7,14), to the Red Army's combat activities outside the USSR (3,4,5,8), to preserving the historical memory of the events of the World War II (9,10,11,12,13). Questions 15 to 19 have been directed to create a portrait of the Respondent.

Findings

The following data have been considered as findings: the vast majority of Respondents (93%) reside in the territory of the Russian Federation and were also born in the territory of the Russian Federation. The sampling includes Respondents of all age categories (over 16 y.o.), but (47%) people in the age category ranging 18 to 20 y.o. significantly prevail. 57% of Respondents are women, 43% are men. The absolute majority (57%) consider the results of the World War II as saving Europe and entire peoples from Nazism and physical destruction. However, the other 20% consider that although the Soviet Union has defeated Nazism, the Communist regime was no better in terms of the number of crimes commited against humanity. 9% hold an intermediate position, considering that despite the fact that the USSR has saved Europe from Nazism, it behaved like an invader in future. Another 9% consider the result of the World War II to be proof of the superiority of the socialist system over the capitalist one. The vast majority of Respondents had relatives who participated in the World War II or as Red Army soldiers (64%). Also many had relatives who have worked on the home front (16%) or were the members of partisan formations who fought against the Nazi occupationists (9%)

The most common responses to the source from which respondents have first learned about the Red Army's combat operations abroad were books (29%), the Internet (29%), and school events (20%). The vast majority (84%) responded that they have learned from the school curriculum that the Soviet troops have made a heroic journey to save Europe from Nazism. Also, 9% responded that the Red Army soldiers have sacrificed themselves for the peaceful existence of all countries. 9% hold an alternative opinion, considering that the Soviet troops have really saved Europe, but only for the sake of expanding their sphere of influence.

The vast majority of Respondents (68%) assess the Red Army's combat activities outside the Soviet Union as the heroic struggle of the Soviet people to liberate Europe from the Nazi invaders. Another 16% hold the opinion that these combat activities have been the result of the wish of the Soviet leadership to include European States in its sphere of influence. Respondents' opinions about WWII events are generated under the impact of documentaries and historical films (29%), knowledge from the school curriculum (23%), lectures and seminars at the University (16%). The state events that influenced the Respondents' attitude to the WWII include the organization of commemorative concerts in honor of the events of WWII (22%), organization of meetings and gatherings with veterans (11%), demolition of monuments and memorials to those who participated in WWII (11%). 34% of Respondents replied that no state events have affected their attitude to WWII.

When asked about the Respondent's personal attitude to monuments, symbols and events dedicated to the World War II, 34% replied that it was necessary to preserve the memory of their ancestors who gave their lives for the independence of their Homeland. 27% consider monuments dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War can become a connecting link between Europe and Russia. 23% perceive these monuments and symbols exclusively in the scope of cultural heritage. 52% support measures to preserve the memory of the liberators in the offline space, but 36% - in the online one.

With regard to public organizations' activities associated with the memory of WWII soldiers, there are suggestions that such organizations should take care of WWII veterans, counteract attempts to falsify history, as well as help to preserve the cultural and material heritage of the exploit of the Soviet soldiers during the World War II. Among the suggestions how to preserve the memory of the victory over fascism, 32% of Respondents noted the creation of the platform where citizens can share the stories of their relatives, 27% spoke about holding regular memorial days, 9% - about organizing mass events dedicated to the events of the World War II. 13% consider that no events should be held.

Among Respondents, 52% are satisfied with the state's actions to preserve the memory of the World War II soldiers, 11% consider that the state pays excessive attention to this issue. 52% of Respondents consider it necessary to struggle falsification of history by increasing the class hours of history at school, but 9% through media propaganda. In terms of introducing educational programs directed at preserving historical memory and countering falsification of history, 52.3% expressed the desirability of such programs in secondary and high schools, but 25% - in elementary ones. The leaders among the most significant events of the World War II according to Respondents are the battle of Stalingrad (77%), the battle of Kursk (73%), the battle of Moscow (70%), the battle of Berlin (59%) and the invasion of Poland (41%).

Conclusion

To overcome the negative attitude to the chapters of history of the own country, it is necessary to develop a national consciousness that can be equated with the historical consciousness of the people. The basic technologies to counteract the distortion of history are as follows: technology of value inversion, deconstruction of history, technology of de-heroism, technology of de-sacralization and de-symbolisation, etc. To do this, it is important to have an idea of the own past, to conduct various activities with regard to historical communication. An important component hereof is the commemoration, i.e. remembrance and celebration of anniversaries of historical events that symbolize the relationship between the past and the present. Therefore it is necessary to build a consistent historical picture of the world of the individual, social group and the state (Sergeeva et al., 2019).

To increase the effective participation of Russia in the emerging and developing military-political units, it is necessary to comprehensively study the history of relations with other current and potential participants of these associations, while paying special attention to their geopolitical status, national peculiarities and potential instruments of influence on Russia's internal policy. In the course of the research, a comprehensive methodology for assessing the potential of cooperation between Russia and other countries within the framework of various military and political units has been formed, on the basis of which it is possible to forecast the prospects of a particular development path for interstate integration. Development of a private methodology for historical and political analysis of the effectiveness of the Russian Federation's participation in military-political units in the scope of the geopolitical status of the unit's participants, their national peculiarities, instruments to influence Russian domestic policy by other members of the unit, as well as the consequences of the collapse of the military-political unit and its impact on the political situation in Russia (Mitrofanova, 2018; Mitrofanova, 2019c). Creation of methodological materials of a historical and political nature for their use in the training of the managerial elite of Russia. Building an applied political principle for assessing the potential of cooperation between Russia and other countries in the scope of various military and political units by means of complementing the methodology of historical and political analysis and practical techniques developed by modern political science (Mitrofanova, 2018; Mitrofanova, 2019b).

The practical value of the research is expressed in the possibility of using the developed models of cooperation between Russian state authorities and public organizations when preparing programs for socio-economic development in modern conditions (including id educational sphere (Bakhtigulova et al., 2018)); in thesis and other scientific papers (when preparing and publishing monographs, synthesis papers, new encyclopedias) on this topic in the areas of Humanities; in the practice of state and municipal management, production and implementation of political, economic and social activities.

Acknowledgments

The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-011-31179.

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