Collective Memory as a Weapon - History of the GDL in the Soviet Propaganda during the War between Nazi Germany and the USSR Cover Image

Коллективная память как оружие: история ВКЛ в советской пропаганде во время советско-германской войны
Collective Memory as a Weapon - History of the GDL in the Soviet Propaganda during the War between Nazi Germany and the USSR

Author(s): Dangiras Mačiulis
Subject(s): Governance, Political history, International relations/trade, Nationalism Studies, Fascism, Nazism and WW II, Politics of History/Memory
Published by: Палітычная сфера
Keywords: Collective Memory; Propaganda in USSR; Historical Memory in Lithuania; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Nationalism;

Summary/Abstract: During the Soviet-German war, the Soviet Union turned the images of collective memory into a propaganda tool. By the beginning of 1941 Lithuania had already been transformed into one of the Soviet republics of the USSR, hence images from the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania appeared in the Soviet propaganda. The article discusses how the images from the GDL history appeared in the Soviet anti-fascist propaganda discourse during World War II, which images from the GDL history the Soviet propaganda employed, and for which purposes these images were used in the first place. Propaganda targeted two major groups - Lithuanians living on the territories occupied by Germany, and Lithuanians who fought in the Red Army. To mobilize both these groups, propaganda used the images of collective memory mainly from more than two centuries of the GDL history, marked by a constant struggle with the Crusaders.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 24
  • Page Range: 19-36
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Belarusian