The Great Patriotic War in People’s memory: potential of personal origin sources and materials of oral history

Abstract

Developing the problem of the formation and representation of the past, the mechanisms of memory transformation of past events both in individual and collective consciousness, modern researchers are paying more and more attention to the materials of oral history. The article analyzes the importance of oral history materials and docu-ments of personal origin in the study of the Great Patriotic War history. The author believes that proactive documentation is an indispensable source for writing history in the “human dimension” and an excellent opportunity to commemo-rate memorable events of the war. Reflecting the individuality of storytellers, their cul-tural values and world outlook / worldview, as well as specific historical conditions that have formed individual views of the world, oral history materials demonstrate images and phenomena of the past that have become socially significant for certain genera-tions, and carry factual and evaluative information. Through in-depth interviews with the participants of the events, the researcher actualizes personally significant and so-cially important memories, transforming them into cultural and historical values. Considering the potential of these sources, the author identifies the main plotlines and themes that resonate with military issues; draws attention to the fact that they illus-trate in detail the private world of a person. Due to natural departure of the Great Patri-otic War eyewitnesses and contemporaries after the era, the author pays special atten-tion to the accumulation and publication of memoirs that makes it possible to preserve the depth of historical memory horizons. Despite the common and different aspects in the structure and content of the constructed ideas about the war, she concludes that all materials of oral history are an important contribution to the preservation of the collec-tive memory of the nation.

Keywords

• tatarstan
• the great patriotic war
• oral historical sources
• ego-documents
• historical memory
• city
• village
• culture
• children
• the everyday lives of children