Russia on the Eve of Modernity

The article is devoted to one of the most important problems of national self-affirmation of Ukrainians in the modern world - the problem of restoration / purification and completion of historical memory. The author shows that the Soviet and current Russian authorities created and constantly developed mechanisms for planting socio-historical mythology with the help of a powerful propaganda machine and repressive apparatus. This mythology replaced real historical memory, putting in its place false historical memory. This was especially true of the so-called "National republics" of the USSR, which were planted not only totalitarian but also colonial social mythology. This mythology is one of the effective tools of Russia's "hybrid war" against Ukraine and against all democracies in the post-Soviet space. The author outlines the development of theoretical ideas about historical (social) memory during the XX-XXI centuries. The article outlines the main conceptual models of such memory, which were created by Western researchers. A critical analysis of these concepts shows that they do not take into account the consequences of the totalitarian distortion of such memory and in fact equate the impact on historical memory carried out in modern democratic and totalitarian and neo-totalitarian societies. The author points out the need to distinguish between such influences and refers to those Ukrainian thinkers who in the 1960s and 1970s spoke about the specifics of totalitarian propaganda and political practice in the formation of false historical memory. The conclusion of the article is that it is necessary to displace the socio-historical mythology of classical totalitarianism and its latest Russian forms, deconstruction and destruction of the false historical memory created by all totalitarian regimes of the past and present. The question of effective methods and forms of building and rebuilding historical memory is worth discussing.

We present the key directions in the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in preserving and restoring the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War. We consider the main stages and aspects of the church's activity in this direction. The construction of the Great Patriotic War historical memory now occupies a large place in patriotic and civic education. The issues of historical memory and its differences from the actual history in Russia began to work with recent-ly. We also consider various ways of preserving historical memory of the Russian Orthodox Church contribution to the victory in the Great Patriotic War in connection with the peculiarities of the source base. Also, in the conditions of limited actions of the Russian Orthodox Church as a full-fledged subject of law, in different periods of time certain types of historical memory preser-vation came to the fore. The main areas of activity in terms of preserving historical memory of the Russian Orthodox Church contribution to victory are identified. Among them we highlight the coverage of church activities in the official publication of the Russian Orthodox Church “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate”, the construction of churches in memory of the war, the biography restoration of repressed priests and believers during the war, co-operative work on museums and museum exhibitions, etc. We also reveal the correspondence of the work content with historical memory to basic Russian values.

In the Slovak Republic (SR), after the Velvet Revolution of 1989 in Czechoslovakia and the collapse of ČSFR in 1993, the problem of creating a national narrative of historical memory, in particular about the Second World War, as one of the important elements of the transformation of Slovak society and systemic post-communist transformations in the young state, became more urgent. The article deals with the official version of preserving and popularizing the historical memory of the Second World War in the Slovak Republic, the main state institution for the implementation of which is the Institute of National Remembrance established in 2002, as well as various interpretations by Slovak historians and politicians of such key events of the Second World War as the history of the Slovak state in 1939-1944, the Hungarian-Slovak “Little War” in March 1939, the participation of Slovak military units in the war on the Eastern Front, the Slovak National Uprising of 1944, the Holocaust. Various sources are used: scientific literature and fiction, cinema and historical journalism, military memoirs and memorials of historical memory, materials of “oral history”, etc. The authors emphasize that the bifurcation of Slovak historiography, historical memory and society itself in assessments and interpretations of the events of World War II in national history continues to this day, primarily as a confrontation between official/supranational and national versions of historical memory. The supranational approach, which applies an integral method, synthesizes views, offers multidimensional visions, and evaluates historical facts, phenomena and processes based on the criteria of liberalism and democracy, is preferred at the present stage.

In 2025 Russia is celebrating an important anniversary – the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, which further foregrounds the need to preserve the historical memory of it, which is formed and conveyed in the public consciousness thanks to a grandiose set of commemorative practices and «commemoration sites» created everywhere in our country. The purpose of the study is a conceptual analysis of various levels of «commemoration sites» of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 in Cheboksary as a special mechanism for preserving the historical memory of society. Materials and methods. The research methodology is defined in accordance with the principles of memoriology. The object and subject of research is not a historical event, but the historical memory about it. Research attention is also focused on the mechanisms by which it is formed, preserved and passed on to the next generations. The most important role in these processes belongs to commemorative practices and «commemoration sites», which have a close relationship. Both a «commemoration site» can become a base for implementing commemorative practices, and the memorials themselves initiate the creation of places of sacralization of the past. Results. The article analyzes the influence of central, regional and local «commemoration sites» in the process of forming and preserving the historical memory of the Russians about the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 on the example of Cheboksary. «Commemoration sites» of the Great Patriotic War are an integral part of the process of preserving and sacralizing the historical memory of the Russian society. Currently, Russia has a number of central memorial sites: the Grave of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg, the Monument-Ensemble «Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad» on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, the Victory Memorial on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow. All of them belong to places revered at the national level, and commemorative practices are carried out on their territory, which have a national scale of significance. A lot of commemorative work has been done at the regional level in all regions of the Russian Federation: monuments, steles, Victory parks with Eternal Flames were erected, museums of the Great Patriotic War were opened, and a number of state cultural and educational institutions were named after the heroes of the 1941–1945 war as a tribute to their fallen countrymen. Commemorative plaques were installed at the municipal level at libraries and schools, and small museums were opened. Cheboksary is a prime example of implementing the regional policy on implementation of commemorative practices and creation of «commemoration sites». They differ in their appearance, scale, and other features, but they perform the same function – they cherish the memory and are the basis for implementing commemorative practices, primarily ceremonial ones. Conclusions. The Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 became one of the key events in the Russian history. Actualization and preservation of historical memory about it is one of the most important tasks of state authorities and the society, which are the initiators of constructing «commemoration sites» of central and regional importance. Cheboksary has regional (at the national level, they are of central importance) and local «commemoration sites» that successfully realize the process of actualizing the heroic pages of the Great Patriotic War. Cheboksary’s experience is successfully implemented throughout the republic at the municipal level, where «commemoration sites» exist and continue to be created both in regional centers and in small settlements.

The article raises the problem of preserving national identity in the context of hybridisation / universalisation of the values ​​of the Russian youth. In this regard, the concept of "historical memory" is applied to the data of two studies carried out in schools and five universities (both at the capital and regional level). The purpose of the article is to assess the content and vector of historical knowledge of students about their country, the attitude to this knowledge among young people and adolescents at different educational levels. The process of continuity of school and university education in the national history is considered, the points of breaks are revealed. A general assessment is given on which periods of Russian history retain the connection with the young generations of Russians, and on which ones go into the past, revealing the main narratives of historical memory. The main conclusions are as follows: 1. the continuity and general assessment among schoolchildren and university students is maintained in relation to at least two events in the Russian history - the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 and the historical figure of Peter I as the first emperor of Russia, who turned the country to the West and made a breakthrough in its modernization; 2. there is a gap in historical memory in relation to events associated with the period of Ancient Rus, a connection with the Soviet past is revealed; schoolchildren even single out the Soviet period as the most interesting and memorable; 3. there are gaps in the continuity of historical knowledge at the level of school and university education, this concerns, for example, such an event as “the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014”; 4. among schoolchildren dominates (58%) a group of students who are proud of the country history, whilst there is a group of those who are indifferent to their history or express negative assessments (8%) and have a neutral attitude to the history of Russia (34%), there is a high percentage (76%) of those who believe that there are different events in the history of Russia and it is important to remember the “dark” pages of one´s own history; 5. as a result, we see young people behaving differently depending on the age, who, for some reason, began to doubt their country and are ashamed of its past, but at the same time are ready to participate in the country's transformations.

The subject of the research is social relations in the area of public legal protection of historical memory. The object of the study is a set of legal norms that ensure state management in the field of the protection of historical memory in the Russian Federation. The author conducts a comprehensive study of Russian memorial legislation, beginning with an analysis of the constitutional foundations of public legal protection of historical truth and memory of ancestors, and concluding with an analysis of strategic documents that define the vectors of Russian historical policy, approved at the level of subordinate regulation. Special attention in the article is given to the study of norms establishing administrative liability for offenses that encroach upon historical memory in the Russian Federation, norms regulating administrative and managerial as well as administrative and protective relations aimed at preserving and strengthening the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War, and norms aimed at protecting cultural and historical heritage. The research is based on a systemic analysis that allows for viewing public legal support of state management in the field of protecting historical memory in the Russian Federation as a system, that is, a set of inextricably interconnected and interacting elements that form a unified whole. Alongside this, the study employs formal legal, historical-legal, and comparative-legal methods. The main conclusions of the research are as follows. Firstly, to date, a sufficiently complexly structured system of public legal support for state management in the field of historical memory protection has been established in the Russian Federation. Secondly, public legal support for state management in this area is characterized by legal uncertainty in the categorical and conceptual apparatus. Thirdly, the key value-meaning dominant in regulating the protection of historical memory in the Russian Federation is the formation, preservation, strengthening, and transmission of the image of the Great Patriotic War as the most important historical event of the 20th century. Fourthly, the legal norms ensuring state management in the field of the protection of historical memory can be divided by the nature of their action into “negative” and “positive” norms. Furthermore, fifthly, they can be classified according to the criterion of the direction of action into norms aimed at protecting intangible historical memory and norms aimed at protecting tangible cultural and historical heritage.

Libraries are actively involved in the processes of achieving the goals of state cultural policy, especially their role increases in the period of information confrontation, distortion of historical truth in modern political conditions, in countering the rehabilitation of Nazism. The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941—1945. The Russian State Library carefully preserves the memory of the heroes’ brave deeds, reveals the pages of military history, makes available objective sources about the Great Patriotic War, promotes the historical truth about the tragic events of wartime. The purpose of the article is to highlight the activities of the Russian State Library in this direction. Various projects of the Russian State Library are aimed at the formation of patriotism, a sense of pride in the history of Russia and understanding of the processes that are currently taking place during the special military operation.Events timed to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War are presented. On April 22—24, 2025 the International Research and Practical Conference “Rumyantsev Readings — 2025” was held, one of its key topics was “Libraries and Preservation of Historical Memory. To the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War”. Within the framework of the conference a special session of libraries of the CIS countries “Pages of the Feat of Peoples” was organized. On May 14—15, 2025, the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Preserving Historical Memory of the Great Patriotic War: The Role of Libraries” was held. Other scientific events are also held: lectures, film screenings, etc.The following exhibition projects of the Russian State Library are presented in the form of an overview: “History of the Great Patriotic War in the Book Memory of Russia: To the 80th Anniversary of Victory”, “Territory of Memory and Glory of Women’s Feat”, “On the Way to the Great Victory: Legislation of the Great Patriotic War Period”, “Maps of Victory”, “Symbols of War and Victory: Visual Art Publications of the Great Patriotic War”, “Living Memory of Generations” and others.For the anniversary of the Great Victory the publishing house of the Russian State Library “Pashkov Dom” prepared and published the books: “Pages of Victory: Leninka in 1941—1945: Chronicle. Documents. Memories”, “Saur-Mogila: From Legend to Feat”, “The Songs Brought About by War and Victory: From the Collections of the Russian State Library”, the second edition of L.I. Fursenko’s index of literature “Publishing, Librarianship and Bibliography During the Great Patriotic War (1941—1945)” and others. A special section “Library of Victory” has been opened in the National Electronic Library, which contains collections of books, periodicals and documents about the Great Patriotic War.The various projects of the Russian State Library reveal rare archival and printed materials, give an opportunity to better understand and evaluate the contribution of our country’s citizens to the Victory, the scale and consequences of the war that changed the course of world history.

The article examines the problem of criminal legal protection of historical truth and memory in the Russian Federation in modern conditions. The relevance of the research is due to the increasing attempts to falsify historical facts, especially those related to the Great Patriotic War. The scientific novelty of the research lies in an integrated approach to the study of the Russian criminal legislation for the availability of appropriate means to counter these crimes, as well as the development of a system of crimes against the desecration of historical truth. The author analyzes the norms of criminal legislation aimed at countering the distortion of historical events, including articles on the rehabilitation of Nazism and the protection of historical memory. Special attention is paid to the constitutional amendments of 2020, which consolidated the need to protect historical truth at the state level as a constitutional value. The research methodology is based on the application of a systematic, comparative legal and formal legal analysis of the current legislation of the Russian Federation, judicial practice and scientific works in this field. The study shows the effectiveness of existing legal mechanisms and reveals the prospects for their further development to strengthen national identity and preserve historical memory. A special contribution of the author is the analysis of a large number of doctrinal sources and judicial practice materials in order to more accurately reflect the issues under consideration. The author formulated the concepts of "historical memory" and "historical truth", considered the elements of crimes and formed a system of crimes that protect these social relations. The author came to the conclusion that the protection of historical truth and memory is an important component of the national security strategy of the Russian Federation. It promotes the preservation of the historical identity of the people, countering attempts to falsify history, strengthening traditional spiritual and moral values of society and consolidating society based on common historical values.

Пам’ять про Першу світову війну у монументальному мистецтві Польщі

Reviewed by: Childhood in Modern Europe by Colin Heywood Birgitte Søland Childhood in Modern Europe. By Colin Heywood. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. x + 286 pp. Cloth $105, paper $29.99. An undisputed pioneer in the field, Colin Heywood has been producing exceptional scholarship on the history of modern European childhood since the 1980s. In this book he offers an outstanding survey of current developments both in the conception of childhood and the lives of children from the eighteenth century to the present. The book is divided into three sections. The first examines village life, still predominant across Europe throughout the eighteenth and much of the nineteenth centuries, thus offering "the essential point of departure for everything that follows" (13). The second part shifts the focus to urban life during this same period, stressing both intellectual and material changes. The third and final part takes as its point of departure the late nineteenth century, considering childhood in increasingly affluent societies, while also addressing the traumas associated with two world wars. Featuring a comparative approach, the narrative incorporates evidence from across Europe, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, and from Ireland to Russia. (Impressively, the footnotes cite not only English-language scholarship, but also French, German, Italian, and Spanish research deriving from diverse disciplines ranging from history and anthropology to sociology, psychology, and economics.) The narrative smoothly weaves evidence of large-scale social and economic changes, philosophical developments and shifting legal and political frameworks with compelling stories about children's lives, generally drawn from memoirs and other autobiographical writing. In spite of the inevitable shortage of children's voices, the book is still a richly "peopled" account, brimming with children and youngsters, parents and kin, employers and teachers, politicians and childhood "experts." Heywood also gently incorporates information about historiographical developments and debates into his writing, inserting statements such as "during the late twentieth century, historians had to revise some [End Page 157] of the accepted ideas. . . ." and "the consensus among historians is now. . . ." (137, 163). Contrary to what might be expected, this only enhances the readability of the book, while reminding us that historical scholarship is a work in progress. Several themes run through the text. First, Heywood continually challenges Whiggish approaches to the history of childhood. While noting that children in the 1950s and 1960s—generally better fed, better clothed and better housed than their predecessors—"had never had it so good," he is careful to point out both the things they have lost (such as relative independence) in the course of the last few centuries, and the incomplete nature of historical "progress" (218). Even in the twentieth century, "the doleful influence of poverty lingered on" (225). Second, he consistently highlights the diversity of historical experiences among children, focusing especially on the differences associated with class, gender, religious belief, and geographical location. Third, he explores the continual tension between seeing children as adults-in-the-making and as unique individuals in their own right, and the social consequences of these divergent perceptions. Any survey text necessarily depends on existing scholarship, and shortcomings thus tend to reflect limitations in our general knowledge. Inadvertently, Heywood's work thus points to areas yet to be explored. The history of European children growing up in non-Christian families, for example, is still largely incomplete. The same can be said about the history of childhood and sexuality. The history of gender-nonconforming children also remains to be written. However, some applicable existing literature receives relatively short shrift in Heywood's account. Tending to highlight the experiences of children generally, gendered analyses of childhood are often downplayed, and on occasion boys' experiences stand in for children's experiences more broadly. The assertion, for example, that "generally . . . schooling was an unpleasant experience for working-class children" may be an accurate assessment with regards to most boys, but as feminist scholars have uncovered, girls often had fairly positive experiences, finding school time to be a welcome respite from endless chores and reading a means of escape from their limited world (259). Nonetheless, Childhood in Modern Europe is an exceptionally useful and insightful book. Highly accessible and engagingly written, it is not only a model textbook for university...

The present work is based on the analysis of the schoolchildren competitive research papers submitted at the All-Russian Youth Vernadsky Conference in the period of time between 2005 and 2020; the article considers the ideas about the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War of the generation coming into life in the 21st century. The content specificity of the schoolchildren research works devoted to the Great Patriotic War is defined by the fact that the young authors in search of truth seek to objectively comprehend the realities of the past and to ascertain the veracity of the fact. It is worth noting that the heroes of the schoolchildren papers are ordinary people, often without formal recognition, and that is the reason why their documents have not been taken into the archives yet. At the opening of the exhibition “Man and War”, the Chairman of the Russian Historical Society Sergei Naryshkin stressed that the history of the Soviet people’s heroism is transmitted through the frontline letters, photographs, family reminiscences, personal belongings. It is on these sources that young researchers learn the history of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. The author of the article concludes that the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War is preserved in the people’s consciousness, and that it is possible to use the youth research as the sources of personal origin to study the issue of historical memory

В статье исследуются проблемы подложности исторических фактов и фальсификации истории Второй мировой и Великой Отечествен­ной войн в контексте угроз национальной безопасности России. Уделяется внимание уголовно-правовым средствам защиты исторической правды и со­хранению исторической памяти. В современном мире нарастают деструктив­ные силы, стремящиеся исказить исторические факты, переписать события, скрыть правду и предложить тенденциозные интерпретации, используя вы­борочные цитаты и манипуляции с источниками. Цели подобных фальсифи­каций - разрушение исторической памяти и подрыв национальной идентич­ности. Проблема усложняется тем, что манипуляции с сознанием и борьба за умы приводят к дестабилизации и хаосу в обществе. Историческая память, являясь основой высших форм социальной регуляции человека, придает особую значимость проблеме фальсификации истории. The article considers problems of falsification of historical facts and falsification of the history of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War in the context of threats to Russia's national security. Attention is paid to the criminal law means of protecting historical truth and preserving historical memory. In the modern world, there are attempts to distort historical facts, reassess events, conceal the truth, and offer biased interpretations using selective quotations and manipulation of sources. The purpose of such falsifications is to destroy historical memory and undermine national identity. The problem is complicated by the fact that manipulations with consciousness and the struggle for minds lead to destabilization and chaos in society. Historical memory, being the basis of the highest forms of human social regulation, attaches special importance to the problem of history falsification.

In connexion with the publication of the report on the neolithic settlement at Koln-Lindenthal I undertook, in the autumn of 1933, with the support of the Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wissenschaft, two months’ exploration in Hungary, Rumania and Jugoslavia. Apart from museum researches in prehistory the chief object of this journey was to study the building methods of the primitive peasant cultures in these countries. In compiling the report on the ‘band keramik’ settlement at Koln-Lindenthal it was found necessary, in order to elucidate many of the finds, to compare them with ethnographic material from settlements peopled by primitive peasants in modern Europe. This method proved no less helpful than when employed earlier by Oelmann, Menghinl and others in dealing with other prehistoric studies. Prehistoric cultures invariably comprise objects the use of which can only be ascertained by comparison with cognate ethnographic or cultural material. For, owing to the conservative character of the peasant, modern primitive peasant cultures have retained certain structures and institutions which are derived, without a doubt, from archaic, even neolithic prototypes. Comparison of modern material with our prehistoric finds by no means postulates a direct historic connexion between the two, especially when the objects compared are widely separated in place, culture, nationality and race. Rather is ethnography called in to furnish a sound basis for assumptions about our finds by relating them to similar phenomena of modern times.

Problem setting. Socio-cultural and political problems of contemporary Ukrainе gives the study of the axiological aspect of historical memory of particular importance and it ceases to be the peripheral theme of philosophical reflection. Without a clear understanding of the value added of historical memory, further socio-cultural design and forecasting is made impossible.Recent research and publications analysis shows that а significant contribution to the understanding and interpretation of the concept under study belongs to such Ukrainian scholars, which carried out quite productive steps in the theoretical understanding of a significant number of problems of the formation and functioning of historical memory, the determination of mechanisms for constructing national memory, its main features and its role in the process of identification of the Ukrainian people. Paper objective. The purpose of the paper is to define the concept of "historical memory", its structural and functional features and the an attempt to explicate its axiological aspect. Paper main body. The axiological measurement of historical memory has a dual detection. First, in certain periods of the history of a particular society, memory becomes unreliable, the causes of which may be a negative reaction to tragic events and historical facts, or ignorance, or (that is the most terrible) intentional neglect of history. As a result of such unconsciousness, the perception of historical memory gradually formed as an unconditional value, an important component of the axioms of culture, as a necessary condition for the normal functioning of society.The fundamental moments of the concepts of historical memory are: social determinism, the difference from the system of transfer of biological information, recognition of its basis of the formation of individual and social consciousness, its direct influence on the development of historical consciousness of society. The main functions of historical memory are: - informational; - identification; - organizational; - world-view; - value-orientated. It can be presented as a spiritual core, a "national genetic code" that preserves knowledge and information about evolution, specific stages of development, conditions of existence and cultural potential of a society (people, nation) and, having withstood the test of time, has become a value for this community. The axiological dimension of historical memory has a dual discovery. First of all, it must be noted that in certain periods of history in society there is a memory that resulted in the gradual formation of the perception of historical memory as an unconditional value, an important component of the axioms of culture, a necessary condition for the adequate functioning of society. Secondly, historical memory actively forms the value-semantic space of society, is a means of forming a system of values of society. The resulting values of life play a consolidating role in ensuring interethnic accord and civil peace, serve as the formation of the consciousness of the people and the function of preserving the original culture. Historical memory makes it possible to invent and transmit in time importantly integrative ideas, and most importantly - the values without which any community would simply come to a decline. Conclusions of the research. The topicality of the study of the value added of historical memory is conditioned by the need to preserve the integrity of the domestic spiritual space, the development of a stable immunity in society against the threat of the destruction of the existing cultural identity. Historical memory in the modern world, it is simultaneously as a determining element and subject of state policy, a factor in the construction of a political nation, a prerequisite or interethnic and interethnic integration or conflict. At the same time, historical memory is a means of retranslation of political values, which plays an ambitious role in the political process (as an object of political influence and as a means of political influence). It is possible to find the value constants acceptable to the whole society, if the very historical memory is perceived not as an arena of ideological conflicts and as a means of political manipulation, but as an unconditional value.

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.