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Issue 4 (45)

“ALYOSHA” SOVIET SOLDIER MONUMENTS IN THE POST-COMMUNIST SPACE
Year	2014	Number	4(45)
Pages	60-68	Type	scientific article
UDC	730	BBK	85.136.15
Authors	Munch Felix	Topic	HISTORY AND HISTORICAL MEMORY
Summary	After the end of World War II in 1945, statues of Soviet soldiers were erected throughout the entire area of influence of the Soviet Union as a reminder of the heroic deeds of the Red Army in liberation of Europe from the Third Reich. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the newly independent states in Central and Eastern Europe re-interpreted the historical narrative of “Liberation of Europe” and added the topic of suffering and loss under the Soviet occupation during and after WWII to their national historiographies, therewith challenging both the former Soviet interpretation of the 20th century history and the Russian interpretation of the past. Quite often the local population called these monuments to the dead Soviet soldiers “Alyosha”. The author suggested that this phenomenon was associated with a popular Soviet song of the 1960s. The author of the article focused on three “Alyosha” monuments in Tallinn, Vienna, and Plovdiv and analyzed the differences and controversies in their perception. The article's main accent was the study of the different policies of the national governments with regard to the interpretation of history and the perception of the communist legacy after the break up of the Soviet Union.
Keywords	Soviet war memorials, The Great Patriotic War, post-communist space, collective memory, identity
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