Journal article
Fighting Russia's History Wars Vladimir Putin and the Codification of World War II
Mark Edele
HISTORY & MEMORY | INDIANA UNIV PRESS | Published : 2017
Abstract
Vladimir Putin shows remarkable interest in history in general and World War II in particular. This article explores this historian-president's attempts to codify the memory of this war in an open attempt to transmit a useful past to the younger generation. It argues that top-down models of historical memory are of little explanatory value in the Russian situation. The president rides a wave of historical revisionism that he shapes at the same time. Putin's government successfully uses it to mobilize Russian society against critical minorities within and perceived enemies without. The far-reaching consequences of this politicization for the history of World War II are sketched in the final s..
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Grants
Awarded by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship
Funding Acknowledgements
Earlier versions of this essay were presented at the Workshop "The Politics of Contested Historical Memory: Dealing with the Contemporary Echoes of Violent Pasts across Europe and Asia," Alfred Deakin Research Institute, February 27, 2015; the roundtable " On Shaky Foundations: Histories of Eurasia and Beyond," Australian Historical Association Conference, University of Sydney, July 6-10, 2015; and the conference " Putin's Russia in the Wake of the Cold War," the Australian National University, August 24-26, 2016. I would like to thank Stephen Wheatcroft, Filip Slaveski, Kyle Wilson and Stefan Auer for their very polarized feedback. Oleg Beyda helped enormously, both with research and through constructive critique. Robert Manne commented on the penultimate draft. Research and writing was made possible by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT140101100).