Tsygankov A.S. National identity and structuring of historical memory: from “unity” to “dispersion”

Abstract: This article conducts the analysis of the processes of commemoration implemented in the city-hero Volgograd in the post-war period, as well as their correlation with the projects of national identity. Based on the examination of memorials erected in the Soviet and post-Soviet period, dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who died during the Battle of Stalingrad, it is stated that the process of commemoration are grounded due to the presence of the project of national identity within the collective conscience of the society, which is genetically structured into the concept of “ideal society”, or social duty. This project is a so-called goal of historical development, which defines not only the vector that substantiates the possibility of existence of the historical path within social conscience, but also the process of structuring of historical memory. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, memory begins to be subjected to “dispersion”, which manifests in the processes of commemoration and their results. This process of “dispersion” of historical memory of the Battle of Stalingrad, which started the commemoration during the post-Soviet era, is based on many projects of national identity created by separate nationalities, representatives of regions and individuals, thus establishing new personal or collective identity outside the total Soviet project.  

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