Abstract
The article is devoted to the consideration of the images of I. Stalin and A. Hitler in historical memory. The construction of ideas about the past is based on the possibilities of media, which in the digital age are becoming limitless. With the help of media, images of the past are integrated into the agenda and actualized in the mass consciousness, and personalized figures of history are most in demand. The historical memory of modern society is largely formed on the basis of ideas about the events and heroes of the 20th century, which include the history of totalitarian regimes and the Second World War. The authors put two key figures of the last century with contradictory historical reputations at the center of their research. The article shows the importance of I. Stalin and A. Hitler for historical memory on the basis of available sociological research data. A corpus analysis of the tonality of news reports mentioning these historical figures allowed us to present the proportions of positive and negative use of their names in foreign media publications. Quantitative data made it possible to compare attitudes towards Stalin and Hitler in English-language information resources and explain certain trends in the dynamics of their representation by the nature of the news content. The study of Internet users’ search queries allowed us to supplement the idea of the directions of constructing images of the Soviet leader and the Nazi Fuhrer in historical memory. The data obtained demonstrate the high interest of the world community in ambiguous historical figures. Their images have become part of popular culture, they are used in political struggle and entertainment network discourse, which leaves an imprint on the formation of ideas about them in the media environment. The use of quantitative analysis data to study the images of I. Stalin and A. Hitler makes it possible to determine their place in the historical memory of the modern global community.
References
Ageeva, G. M. (2012). Mediatization of memory: memoirs features in blogs and social networks. Tomsk State University Journal, 363, 68–74. (In Russian).
Anikin, D. A., & Golovashina, O. V. (2017). Trauma to cultural memory: Conceptual analysis and methodological bases of research. Vestnik Tomskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, 425, 78‑84. https://doi.org/10.17223/15617793/425/10 (In Russian).
Anufrieva, K. V., & Gubman, B. L. (2019). Historical Memory and History in the Culture of Global Community. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta kulturi i iskusstv, 4, 13–20. https://doi.org/10.24411/1997-0803-2019-10402 (In Russian).
Baer, A. (2001). Consuming history and memory through mass media products. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(4), 491–501. https://doi.org/10.1177/136754940100400401
Dyczok, M. (2015). History, Memory, and the Media. Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 34(1/4), 431–446.
Dynamics of attitudes towards Stalin. (2019). Levada.ru**. https://www.levada.ru/2019/04/16/dinamika-otnosheniya-k-stalinu/ (In Russian).
European Parliament resolution of 19 September 2019 on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe. (2019). European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2019-0021_EN.html
Fokin, A. A. (2016). Difficult issues of collective memory of Stalinism in Russian society In Actual Problems of Historical Research: The View of Young Scientists Collection of materials of the All-Russian youth scientific school-conference (pp. 264-271) Orange Publishing House. (In Russian).
Gnatchenko, A. I. (2019). Influence of Mass Media on the Formation of the Public Historical Memory. Meždunarodnyj naučno-issledovatel'skij žurnal (International Research Journal), 6, 50–55. https://doi.org/10.23670/IRJ.2019.84.6.037 (In Russian).
Griban, I. V. (2016). ‘‘The Fuhrer in Each of Us’’: an Image of A. Hitler and ‘‘Over coming of the Past’’ in modern Germany. Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies, 3, 158–166. https://doi.org/10.18503/1992-0431-2016-3-53-158-167 (In Russian).
It wasn't all bad under Hitler: Stunning results of a public opinion poll on the 75th anniversary of the Anschluss of Austria. (2013). Subscribe.ru. https://subscribe.ru/group/razumno-o-svoem-i-nabolevshem/4155472/ (In Russian).
Khryakov, A. V. (2012). H. Heimpel: Personal Repentance and the ‘Overcoming of the Past’. Dialogue with Time, 38, 213–226. (In Russian).
Killing baby Hitler: A poll of Americans has sparked an uproar. (2015). Vesti.ru. https://www.vesti.ru/article/1747993 (In Russian).
Linchenko, A. A., Ivanov, A. G., & Lipetsk State Technical University. (2017). What should we do with the myths about Stalin? Vestnik Tomskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, 425, 91–99. https://doi.org/10.17223/15617793/425/12 (In Russian).
Memory of Stalin: For and Against. (2017). Wciom.ru. https://wciom.ru/analytical-reviews/analiticheskii-obzor/pamyat-o-staline-za-i-protiv (In Russian).
Outstanding people of all times and peoples in Russian public opinion. (2008). Levada.ru**. https://www.levada.ru/2008/08/31/vydayushhiesya-lyudi-vseh-vremen-i-narodov-v-rossijskom-obshhestvennom-mnenii/ (In Russian).
Outstanding people. (2017). Levada.ru**. https://www.levada.ru/2017/06/26/vydayushhiesya-lyudi/ (In Russian).
Wolff, R. S. (2013). The Historian’s Craft, Popular Memory, and Wikipedia. In Writing History in the Digital Age (pp. 64–74). University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv65sx57.10
Zorin, A. L. (2020). Contemporary West Politicians as Falsifiers of Historical Memory of European Peoples as for Causes of the Second World War. Kultura i vremya peremen, 3. https://timekguki.esrae.ru/ru/46-r589 (In Russian).
** — Recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.