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An essential part of the political strategy of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was the extermination of social groups that he regarded as the enemies of the people: owners of the capital and land, counterrevolutionaries, and opponents of Soviet ideology and collectivisation. Thus on June 14th 1941 and March 25th 1949 the population of Latvia diminished by 60 thousand people overnight. Soviet authorities labelled them as dangerous for socialism and deported them to various destinations in Siberia with no hope of return. Memories of them were unspeakable in the public sphere until perestroika, but since then it has become as principal a source of cultural trauma for Latvians as September 11th is for Americans and the Holocaust is for Jews. During the decline of the Soviet Union, the commemoration of Soviet crimes became an important social practice in Latvia and elsewhere in post-communist societies. A crucial role in this process was played by Latvian mass media: since perestroika the media have been forming the public discourse of the commemoration and thereby also of the trauma of the deportations.
By analysing the content of the most read national and local newspapers Latvia issued in the last 23 years, this extensive study offers an overview of the creation and transformation of mediated trauma.
An essential part of the political strategy of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was the extermination of social groups that he regarded as the enemies of the people: owners of the capital and land, counterrevolutionaries, and opponents of Soviet ideology and collectivisation. Thus on June 14th 1941 and March 25th 1949 the population of Latvia diminished by 60 thousand people overnight. Soviet authorities labelled them as dangerous for socialism and deported them to various destinations in Siberia with no hope of return. Memories of them were unspeakable in the public sphere until perestroika, but since then it has become as principal a source of cultural trauma for Latvians as September 11th is for Americans and the Holocaust is for Jews. During the decline of the Soviet Union, the commemoration of Soviet crimes became an important social practice in Latvia and elsewhere in post-communist societies. A crucial role in this process was played by Latvian mass media: since perestroika the media have been forming the public discourse of the commemoration and thereby also of the trauma of the deportations.
By analysing the content of the most read national and local newspapers Latvia issued in the last 23 years, this extensive study offers an overview of the creation and transformation of mediated trauma.
Der 2015 gefeierte 70. Jahrestag des Kriegsendes 1945 war mit besonderer Emotionalität aufgeladen. Das Buch liefert eine Biographie dieses Tages, beschreibt Nachleben und Verwandlungen der sowjetischen Festkultur, Initiativen wie das »Unsterbliche Regiment« in Russland, den Kampf um das Kriegsgedenken in der Ukraine und anderen postsozialistischen Staaten. Aber auch die liberale und linke Kritik an der »Vereinnahmung« des 9. Mai durch die russische Staatsführung oder die Bedeutung dieses Tages für das Selbstverständnis der russischsprachigen Minderheiten von Estland bis Deutschland werden betrachtet.
Der 2015 gefeierte 70. Jahrestag des Kriegsendes 1945 war mit besonderer Emotionalität aufgeladen. Das Buch liefert eine Biographie dieses Tages, beschreibt Nachleben und Verwandlungen der sowjetischen Festkultur, Initiativen wie das »Unsterbliche Regiment« in Russland, den Kampf um das Kriegsgedenken in der Ukraine und anderen postsozialistischen Staaten. Aber auch die liberale und linke Kritik an der »Vereinnahmung« des 9. Mai durch die russische Staatsführung oder die Bedeutung dieses Tages für das Selbstverständnis der russischsprachigen Minderheiten von Estland bis Deutschland werden betrachtet.