Prisoners of a Myth: Soviet PoWs and Putinist Memory Politics

Abstract

This chapter examines the treatment of the politically sensitive issue of prisoners of war (PoWs) between 2000 and 2019, using analysis based on primary research conducted in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Porkhov and Vyazma in 2018 and 2019, as well as books, films and official discourse. It seeks to explain a change in tempo of PoW memorialisation under Putin and will take as case studies two major memorials opened on the site of former PoW camps on Russian territory (one in Pskov Region 2014, the other in Smolensk Region in 2016). It reflects on the advantages - and limitations - of using memorials as case studies to illustrate broader trends in memorialisation. The analysis of PoW monument creation also speaks to a debate over the nature of Russia’s war myth, and to what extent this is determined by the Kremlin. The memorialisation of PoWs reveals that grassroots commemoration and local rituals have significant agency when it comes to shaping Russian cultural memory. Using a mixture of geographical, textual analysis and ethnographic research, this chapter reconstructs the story of PoW monuments, arguing that understanding the complex interplay of state and grassroots actors requires an interdisciplinary and mixed-methods approach. Drawing on the author’s experience as a journalist in the region, it considers how journalistic practices can supplement the academic researcher’s toolkit.