Weaponizing the Heritage of Violence: Competing Memories at Mass Graves in Russia and Ukraine

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Adding to the vibrant conversation around memorial museums, memorials, and dark heritage sites, this paper will examine and scrutinize the portrayals of aspects of violence (including portrayals of perpetrators and victims) at a selection of mass graves in Ukraine and Russia that witnessed either Nazi or Soviet mass killings during the twentieth century. In recognizance of both the impacts of COVID-19 on visitation and the key role that the digital sphere plays in Eastern European ‘memory wars’, it will examine onsite as well as online commemorative and memorial interpretation and narratives. It will further examine how contemporary political actors 'weaponize' these aspects of the past against each other and to further contemporary political aims, examining both the ‘two totalitarianisms’ narrative framework and the use of competing memories of mid-century violence to bolster current national and political identities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2022 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology