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Fighting Russia's History Wars: Vladimir Putin and the Codification of World War II
- History & Memory
- Indiana University Press
- Volume 29, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2017
- pp. 90-124
- 10.2979/histmemo.29.2.05
- Article
- Additional Information
Vladimir Putin shows remarkable interest in history in general and World War II in particular. This article explores this historian-president's attempts to codify the memory of this war in an open attempt to transmit a useful past to the younger generation. It argues that top-down models of historical memory are of little explanatory value in the Russian situation. The president rides a wave of historical revisionism that he shapes at the same time. Putin's government successfully uses it to mobilize Russian society against critical minorities within and perceived enemies without. The far-reaching consequences of this politicization for the history of World War II are sketched in the final section of the article.