The Great Unifier? Promoting State-Sponsored War Narratives in Kalmykia

Abstract

For many foreigners, talk of Victory Day in Moscow will immediately call to mind rocket launchers, tanks, and files of soldiers parading on Red Square. Yet, for many Russians there is another side to Victory Day, which is known as the ‘holiday with tears in your eyes’ (prazdnik so slezami na glazach). It is not only a celebration but also a time to remember the enormous sacrifices and tragedy, individual and collective, endured during the Great Patriotic War (GPW), as the Russians call the Soviet experience of World War Two. However, not all sacrifices are remembered equally, or at all, raising the question of ‘whose tears’ count. Posing this question immediately problematises the notion that there is a one-sizefits- all narrative of the GPW accepted and acceptable to the diverse population of the Russian Federation. This chapter examines this tension, asking to what extent the government’s GPW narrative can be understood as unifying in the context of Kalmykia, the indigenous population of which was deported during the war.