MEMORY OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR IN THE INTERNET SPACE OF RUSSIAN SOCIAL NETWORKS

Abstract

Being one of the most tragic pages in the history of Russia, World War II left a colossal mark in the memory of the Russian people, combining such conflicting feelings as grief over irreparable losses and the joy of victory. The article is devoted to the most modern forms of preserving the memory of the events of the Great Patriotic War in the modern Russian Internet space. Using statistical data of user activity on the Internet in 2022, the author examines the most popular social networks operating in the Russian Federation and analyzes current trends in the development of modern commemoration practices and ways of forming and preserving collective memory. In particular, the article discusses such Internet platforms as VKontakte and Yandex Zen, where there is significant user activity in maintaining various communities and channels dedicated to the history of the Great Patriotic War, as well as the so-called phenomenon of the mass “flash mob” of Victory Day. The article uses the approaches of the concept of historical memory, which makes it possible to comprehend the trends in the forms and practices of preserving the historical memory of the feat of the Russian people in the space of social networks. The author comes to the conclusion that the growing role and importance of the Internet and social networks in the life of modern society contribute to the fact that in the foreseeable future these resources will become the richest, if not the main, sources of information on the collective historical memory of the Great Patriotic War, as well as space for formation of new commemorative practices.