World War II in Baltic and Nordic social media
World War II in Baltic and Nordic social media

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on the Wikipedia web pages of seven countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The aim is to analyze what kinds of similarities and differences there are in the image of World War II, and why. This qualitative analysis uses key elements of historical source criticism; in addition, comparative method and quantitative analysis are used. In comparing the Wikipedia web pages of these seven countries, no single narrative of the war can be found. National emphases are clearly apparent and they distinguish all the examined web pages from each other. Through text, images and maps, the webpage of each country highlights aspects related to the situation of the country during the war, emphasizing their importance to the war as a whole. The text of each country also shows an understanding towards the choices made by the country and accordingly, the perspectives of those that were on the other side of the war are ignored. In this sense, these Wikipedia pages could be considered as constructs of a nationalistically tinged identity and positive self-image. On the other hand, it should be noted that in spite of clear national emphases, these linguistically different web pages also have a lot in common, and there are no extreme national interpretations or sharp judgements that take a strong position on a right-wrong axis.

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