The Soviet war memorial in Vienna: geopolitics of memory and the new Russian diaspora in post­ Cold War Europe

Abstract

The Soviet war memorial in Vienna is interesting and special in many respects. The Soviet war memorial in Vienna is constructed in socialist realist style. The official Victory Day ceremony generally starts in the morning with the laying of wreaths and flowers, first on the Soviet military graves at Vienna's Central Cemetery and then at the Soviet war memorial at Schwarzenbergplatz. The victory in the Second World War appears to the Russian political elites and society as the moment of ultimate geopolitical triumph, often placed in opposition to the so-called ‘geopolitical catastrophe’ of 1991. The Soviet war memorial in Vienna, erected in summer 1945, not only tells the story of Russian-Austrian relations during and after the Cold War. The symbolic capital of Russia’s contribution to the defeat of Nazism in Europe can be seen as part of Russia’s soft power. The Association of Compatriots was founded in 2007 as an instrument for the consolidation of the Russian diaspora abroad.