Abstract
The article analyzes commemoration strategies of the Great Patriotic War in Karelia. Regional memory politics is considered as a “two-level game”: within the region, where different mnemonic actors interact with each other during the dominant narrative formation; and externally, where the regional narrative is correlated with federal practices and interpretations. The article analyzes the ways the unique experience of Karelia in battling with a different enemy – the Finns – is perceived in the republic’s public discourse. The empirical basis of the research is as follows: archive materials, republic media publications, and semi-structured interviews with main actors of Karelia's memory politics. The study shows that there is a fragmented memory regime of war in Karelia. The dominant strategy of commemoration is to confirm the heroic discourse highlighting Karelia's contribution to the Victory. The narrative is mainly shared by the veteran and search organizations supported by the regional authorities. The alternative strategy is focusing on the commemoration of the occupational regime imposed on Karelia. The main supporters of this narrative are former prisoners of Finnish concentration camps, the representatives of archives, museums, and the scientific community. However, limitations of symbolic and communicative resources don’t allow them to compete with the dominant strategy of commemoration.
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