Практики мемориализации антисоветского движения на Юге России в годы Гражданской войны

Abstract

Introduction. The article is devoted to the memorialization of the anti-Soviet movement in the South of Russia, which took place during the Civil War. The author considers the approaches of Denikin and Cossack (Don and Kuban) governments to the glorification of the struggle against the Bolsheviks, the canonization of the leaders of this struggle, the creation of so-called places of memory. Methods and materials. The research is based on legislative acts and documentation records of anti-Soviet governments in the South of Russia. The unpublished documents are stored in central and regional archives of the Russian Federation and Hoover Institution Archives (USA). The other significant sources are periodicals, propaganda products, artistic texts of 1918–1920, and private correspondence. Analysis and results. The politics of memory of the “white” and Cossack governments was an important part of the official propaganda. It was aimed to legitimize and consolidate the anti-Bolshevik movement. During the Civil War, documents and other artifacts were actively collected for future archives and museums of the “liberation war”. The Military-Historical Commission under Denikin Propaganda Department played an important role in this activity. Museums of the struggle against Bolshevism in the Kuban and Don were being formed at the initiative of Cossack governments. There were monumental, toponymical and other projects to perpetuate the memory of the anti-Bolshevik movement heroes. The presence of the opposing memorial narratives in the South of Russia was the result of serious contradictions between the main actors inside the anti-Bolshevik camp.