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CloseCrumbling Memory: Russian Propaganda, World War II, and the Invasion of Ukraine
May 31, 2022
The war in Ukraine has highlighted Russian propaganda and the way it weaponizes the memory of World War II for political purposes—in this case, to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In this episode, Izabella Tabarovsky digs deep into Russia’s myths about the war and considers how the invasion of Ukraine is causing that entire symbolic universe to crumble. Guest: Dr. David Hoffmann. Commentators: Dr. Ivan Kurilla and Maxim Trudolyubov.
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Show Notes:
- David Hoffmann, editor, The Memory of the Second World War in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia. Routledge: 2022
- Izabella Tabarovsky, “Russia’s Lost War,” Wilson Quarterly, Fall 2020
- Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II. Random House: 2018
- A Wilson Center event: Victory Day Celebrations During Russia’s War of Aggression, May 9, 2022
Documents & Downloads
Guests

David L. Hoffmann
Former Title VIII Research Scholar;
Distinguished Professor of History, College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University
Distinguished Professor of History, College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University

Maxim Trudolyubov
Senior Advisor; Editor-in-Chief, Russia File;
Editor-at-Large, Meduza
Editor-at-Large, Meduza

Ivan Kurilla
Former Short-Term Scholar;
Professor, History and International Relations; Director, Department Development Partnership Program, Academic Director of the IMARES program, European University at St. Petersburg, Russia
Professor, History and International Relations; Director, Department Development Partnership Program, Academic Director of the IMARES program, European University at St. Petersburg, Russia