Memorializations of a martyr and her mutilated bodies: Public monuments to Soviet war hero Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, 1942 to the present

Abstract

This article analyses monuments to World War II martyr Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. The array of monuments to Kosmodemyanskaya stands apart from other sets of Soviet monuments to war heroes, both in terms of sheer number and in variety. An analysis of the most significant sites informs us about the multiple mythologies associated with this Soviet 'saint'. This article asks how the plurality of bodily representations in memorials of Kosmodemyanskaya gives insight into the confluence of collective memory, national myth-making and constructions of gender in the Soviet Union and in post-Soviet Russia. A study of Kosmodemyanskaya's monuments, situated in symbolic locations, shows how competing trends, Soviet political needs, private commemorations, and public responses shaped the representation of this war hero. The evolution of monuments to Kosmodemyanskaya illuminates both the tensions that arise when disparate groups commemorate one individual, and the political role of war monuments in a broader context.