scholarly journals The Great Patriotic War in Russian history textbooks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmara Moskwa
Keyword(s):  
History Textbooks ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Russian History ◽  
National History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Vladimir Putin ◽  
Russian Education

The Great Patriotic War in Russian history textbooksThe topic of this article is presenting how the Great Patriotic War (GPW) is depicted in Russian national history textbooks. Here, I consider textbooks not only as a source of knowledge about the past times, but first and foremost as a tool to create the state’s historical policy. I examine the GPW, in turn, as a fundamental myth of the Russian society which—without any doubt—constitutes one of the main pillars of identity of modern Russians. Another subject of this study is the changes in Russian education that took place in 2013-2015, that is during the presidency of Vladimir Putin. In so doing, I focus primarily on the creation of the concept of a new educational and methodological complex for teaching national history and the introduction of new national history textbooks (the idea of the so-called “single textbook”). I strive to show in the article that the picture of the GPW in the new textbooks is mainly based on success—of the Red Army, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Soviet nation. Wielka Wojna Ojczyźniana w rosyjskich podręcznikach do historii ojczystejTematem niniejszego artykułu jest sposób przedstawiania Wielkiej Wojny Ojczyźnianej (WOW) w rosyjskich podręcznikach do historii ojczystej. Podręczniki traktuję przy tym nie tylko jako źródło wiedzy o czasach dawnych, lecz przede wszystkim jako narzędzie kreowania polityki historycznej państwa. WOW rozpatruję z kolei w kategoriach podstawowego mitu społeczeństwa rosyjskiego, który – ku czemu nie ma wątpliwości – stanowi jeden z podstawowych filarów tożsamości współczesnych Rosjan. Przedmiotem badań są także zmiany w rosyjskiej oświacie, które miały miejsce w latach 2013-2015, a zatem w trakcie prezydentury Władimira Putina. Skupiam się przy tym przede wszystkim na powstaniu koncepcji nowego kompleksu edukacyjno-metodycznego w zakresie nauczania historii ojczystej oraz wprowadzeniu nowych podręczników do historii ojczystej (idea tzw. „jednego podręcznika”). W artykule staram się pokazać, że obraz WOW w nowych podręcznikach oparty jest głównie na sukcesie – Armii Czerwonej, Związku Socjalistycznych Republik Sowieckich i narodu sowieckiego.

scholarly journals Trudne rozliczenie z radziecką przeszłością (na przykładzie opisu zbrodni katyńskiej w rosyjskich podręcznikach do historii)

Politeja ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (53) ◽  
pp. 359-374
Author(s):  
Anna Kadykało
Keyword(s):  
Civic Education ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Patriotic Education ◽  
Historical Education ◽  
Russian Politics

Difficult Settlement with the Soviet Past (on the Example of the Description of the Katyn Massacre in Russian History Textbooks)The aim of the article is to show how in contemporary Russian history textbooks the Katyn Massacre (1940) is presented and compare its interpretation with different approaches to this tragedy that are actively discussed in scientific circles and among ordinary Russians. This approach should answer the question of the place occupied by this sensitive issue in Russian politics of memory and show how the process of forming historical memory related to the Katyn Massacre, based on historical education in schools, and public policy, looks like. Civic education in Russia is based on patriotic values and shapes the pride of power of the motherland. By emphasizing the importance of war victories, strong leaders, the formation of the students’ sense of belonging to the Russian nation and loyalty to the state takes place. The Katyn case continues to be a painful theme in Russian interpretation of the past, which explains why attempts are made to justify the crimes of the Stalinist regime. It is also not useful for patriotic education, as evidenced by the lack of mention of it in some history textbooks, or attempts to justify it partially.

scholarly journals Resisting 'Recumbency on The Past ': Literary Strategies for Overcoming Retromania in Maria Stepanova's Novel In Memory of Memory, (2017)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Novikova
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
National History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Documentary Fiction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Hybrid Genre

This article discusses the philosophical semi-documentary novel In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova (2017). The narrative about the past can be interpreted as a strategy of dealing with the dominant retro-utopian sentiments in Russian society. The history of several generations of Stepanova’s own family is depicted against the backdrop of tragic twentieth-century Russian upheavals which are transformed into  a meta-novel focusing on the workings of memory and ways of articulating it. The article identifies two strategies used in Stepanova’s novel to counter retro-utopianism. The first strategy is the choice of a hybrid genre – documentary fiction – to recount the events of family and national history. The second strategy relies on the concept of memory as a catalogue used to complete the ’work of grief’ in Russian literature and to help it escape its fixation on the past. These strategies in Stepanova’s novel appear to be closely connected with her reception of W.G. Sebald’s (1944-2001) works, in particular his documentary fiction. Keywords: M. Stepanova, W.G. Sebald, documentary fiction, meta-novel, retromania

History Textbooks as Social Contract: Educational Reform, the Unified History Textbooks and Patriotism in Contemporary Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Mariya Yarlykova ◽  
Yu Xunda
Keyword(s):  
Educational Reform ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
Black Spots ◽  
Russian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

This article examines uniform standardized history education in Russia. It focuses primarily on the process of designing unified national history textbooks in 2013-2017, and also examines the educational reform that followed this process, along with the role of Russian society in the formulation of the textbook’s content. The new historical-cultural criteria—and the Unified textbooks based on them—are considered as a product of social contract as it was revised and approved by the different levels of Russian society: academics, parents, teachers, and government. In essence, the new textbooks are the first joint project made by the government, academics and society in the history of the Russian state. The new history textbooks are regarded as an attempt by the state and society to link Russian history with world history; previously, each discipline was studied separately. It is also an attempt to acknowledge and accept all of Russian history as one historical process of the evolution of Russian statehood, including all successes and achievements as well as black spots and wrongdoings. Although the unified textbooks are the most prudent revision of history in contemporary Russia, however there are several improvements required to redirect textbooks from being simply a tool for the construction of patriotism in schools to also being a mechanism of development of the younger generation’s critical thinking.

THE AWARNESS OF STUDENTS ABOUT THE HEROES OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Buzina ◽  
◽  
Vasiliy V. Krasil’shchikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Methodological Basis ◽  
Vladimir Region ◽  
Great Patriotic War

The work is devoted to the study of the awareness of students about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The recognizability of the names of heroes has been studied in the works of sociologists. It turned out to be very low. The answer to the question is especially relevant: can today's youth remember the description of the heroic deeds of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War? The methodological basis of the study was a survey. The collection of information was carried out from February to March 2021. A questionnaire developed by the authors was used. The study involved 302 students from 4 Vladimir universities. Their age is from 17 to 25 years old. Among them there are 95 boys and 207 girls. The average age of the subjects was 19.81 years. As a result of the study, the main sources of historical knowledge of students were identified, a rating of the films they watched about the Great Patriotic War was compiled. The upper estimates for the share of Vladimir students who know about the exploits of heroes known from Russian history textbooks were established — no more than 16.9%, and the share of Vladimir students who know about the exploits of heroes whose life history is associated with the Vladimir region were established — no more than 1.0 %. An estimate of the proportion of students who know about the combat path of their relatives — participants in the Great Patriotic War was obtained — 21.5%. The share of students who know nothing about such relatives is 53.3%. Of these, 29.1% believe that they have no such relatives. Measures to raise awareness of students about the heroes and participants of the Great Patriotic War were proposed by the authors.

Putin’s first year in office: the new regime’s uniqueness in Russian history

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Shlapentokh
Keyword(s):  
Political Order ◽  
Recent History ◽  
First Year ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Common Features ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Democratic Ideology

The author analyzes Putin’s first year in office by comparing it to the last fifteen regimes in Russian history. Putin shares many common features with the leaders of the past. He belongs to the group of leaders who were not so concerned about the progress of society as in removing the threat to the existing political order. He is also among those who moved toward authoritarianism in their first year. As all new regimes in the 20th centuries, Putin used democratic ideology for the legitimization of his rule, though he almost immediately began to curtail the fledgling democracy in Russia. While Putin’s regime was similar to the previous regimes in some respects, it was very different in others. First of all, no ruler rose to power from such a politically obscure position. Putin came to power with far less experience than his fourteen predecessors. The circumstances under which Putin came to power have no precedent in recent history. Another uniqueness of Putin’s first year in office was the extent to which various elements of the old regime were preserved. The author dwells on Putin’s first year with special attention. As a predictor of the future, it suggests that Russian society under Putin will remain essentially the same as it was shaped by 1995.

scholarly journals The “Storms and Turns of History”: Emigration Narratives in the 20th Century in Polish and Hungarian History Textbooks

2021 ◽  
Vol 148 (4) ◽  
pp. 825-832
Author(s):  
Nóra Szisz
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
National History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Current History

History textbooks are special sources, reflecting on the era in which they were published. They play a role in formation of national identity and shape students’ perception of the past and their relation to the present. Central Europe’s recent media have given considerable attention to emigration. How do history textbooks narrate migration? This paper explores how the current history textbooks in Hungary and Poland narrate mass emigration. Findings reveal several reasons for the mass migration named by the textbooks, which include a desire for improved economic and living conditions. The treatment of emigrant groups as transnational populations in both Hungarian and Polish narratives suggests that they are separated from their home country’s national history and in a way ‘step out’ of its flow – however, the narratives appearing in the Polish textbooks deal with the overall neglected groups in greater depth. In addition, this research explores how these textbooks treat these transnational populations.

scholarly journals Why national narratives are perpetuated: A literature review on new insights from history textbook research

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Grever ◽  
Tina van der Vlies
Keyword(s):  
Holistic Approach ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
National History ◽  
History Textbook ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Textbook Research ◽  
The Masses

National narratives have often served to mobilize the masses for war by providing myths and distorted interpretations of the past, while conversely wars were major sources for producing national narratives. Because national history is very likely to remain a central topic in history education, albeit in ways that differ from how the topic was used fifty years ago, it is important to gain a greater understanding of the underlying structures and mechanisms of these narratives in history textbooks. After outlining the historical interconnectedness of the emerging nation states and history teaching, this review article explains the complexity of the history textbook as an educational resource. Next, we identify some current problems and challenges in history textbook research. We continue by discussing promising research trends related mainly to national narratives, such as the analysis of images, the use of digital tools, and studies of the autonomy of textbook narratives and of history textbooks in relation to other media. Another recent reorientation is textbook research that uses a holistic approach . By this we mean studies that examine the history textbook as a whole: composition, periodization, visual intertextuality and chapters that do not at first glance appear to focus on national history. These studies offer new insights and explanations for the perpetuation of national narratives in history textbooks.

scholarly journals Portrait drawing of the Great Patriotic War. Documentary and artistic evidence of eyewitnesses

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Dmitriy V. Volkov
Keyword(s):  
Working Environment ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Combat Unit ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Face ◽  
Portrait Drawing ◽  
The Creation

The article highlights the need to create a portrait drawing in frontline conditions. One of the important factors is the creation of portrait images, posters, aimed at the propaganda of military activities in the Red Army. In addition, the artists were fully interested in creating sketches for paintings, portraits, diary entries reflecting reality not only for agitation, but also for the creation of creative works that contain their own view of the working days of the frontline soldiers. The analysis of the paintings shows how similar and at the same time different the portraits are. To a large extent, the differences are due to the place of battles, their complexity and the circumstances in which the portrait drawings were created. The images of people were united by moral and volitional desire for victory, the imprint of fatigue on the face, the experience of relatives and friends who became close in battle. One of the important aspects for understanding the portrait image is the conditions for creating a picture - it is a portrait after the battle with combat weapons, wounded in hospital, at a concert, in the working environment of the headquarters, writing a letter in a trench. The models for portraits were as a rule people close to the artists and who belonged to the combat unit where they served.

scholarly journals Historical memory: schoolchildren and students about the history of Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-82
Author(s):  
Maria A. Podlesnaya ◽  
Gallina V. Soloviova ◽  
Ilona V. Il`ina
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
University Education ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Figure ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
History Of

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.

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