Introduction

This introductory chapter establishes several major themes of the volume—the use of World War II memory for political legitimation and patriotic mobilization; the striking continuities between Soviet and post-Soviet narratives of the war; and the revival of war commemoration under the Putin government. It also includes a theoretical discussion of the relationship between individual memory and collective remembrance and places Russian war memory in the context of more general work done in the historical field on “sites of memory.” Lastly, this introduction provides an overview of the volume’s 15 chapters, highlighting the arguments and contributions of each.