Here we provide a preview of our latest publications. Follow this link to the Cultures of History Forum's website to get access to all our articles.
Exhibiting 20th Century History
For many decades Soviet and post-Soviet collective memory of the Second World War has been closely tied to the song 'Bukhenval'dskii nabat' (Alarm Bell of Buchenwald), performed at both official and private commemorations across the former Soviet Union. The article traces the origins of the song and critically discusses the various transformations it undertook from being an anti-nuclear peace song to becoming a central element of the antifascist 'Great Patriotic War'-memory.
Politics of History
In April 2021 a Czech researcher stumbled over a file card that identified Prime Minister Andrej Babis as a former agent of the StB. This new piece of evidence, however, was barely discussed in the Czech public. The article tries to explain this non-existing debate about the Prime Minister’s StB past and finds answers in the changing significance of anti-communism as a driving force of Czech public debate and memory politics.
Debating 20th Century History
Thirty years have passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In Russia's public sphere today, the decade that followed is remembered with ambivalence while politically, negative narratives of the 'rowdy ninetees' dominate. The article examines how the ninetees are being represented on social media platforms, in particular on TikTok and Instagram, and to what extent the platform-generated grassroot memory practices differ from, or even oppose the official narrative about this period.