Memorial Law: National and International Aspects

Abstract

Introduction. This article conducts an interdisciplinary study of memory policy, which includes terminological explication and legal analysis of concepts similar in meaning, assessment of the relevance and need to legalize terms related to memory policy, determination of the effectiveness of official memory policy, prediction of its political and social consequences in the long term and exploring the normative limits of national memorial legislation. The purpose of the study is the conceptualization of memorial law.Materials and methods. The main research method is participant observation of the processes of implementation in Russian society and abroad of the concepts of national, historical and social memory, as well as the construction of norms and regulations for establishing legal relations in the field of conservation of military memorial heritage objects. Methods of express diagnostics of problem situations, legal assessment of incidents, sociological and expert surveys (including questionnaires and testing), and modeling were used.Research results. As a result of the study, the need to develop a special federal law on the protection of the military memorial heritage of the Russian Federation, as well as the development of an international (universal) Charter (Convention) on the protection of military memorial heritage sites formed as a result of the Second World War, was substantiated. Discussion and conclusion. It has been established that there is no single position in the scientific community regarding the need for memorial legislation. This largely depends on the political and ideological preferences of a particular author. At the same time, it was concluded that in legal science the conceptual foundations for the formation of memorial law as a special legal complex for the preservation, transmission and protection of historical memory and memorial (war memorial) heritage have been poorly studied. In addition, both at the level of legal doctrine and according to law enforcement practice, the issue of the status and legal means of preserving military memorial heritage has been practically not studied. In this connection, the authors propose the development of a Union Nation Charter for the Protection of Military Memorial Heritage for the purpose of holistic and comprehensive legal regulation of the area under study.