The Eternal Legacy of the Great Patriotic War?

Author(s): Marie Černá / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

Theoretically grounded in memory studies, this article reconstructs how the official Soviet-Russian myth of the Great Patriotic War has been politically instrumentalized and abused to promote and legitimize the Kremlin’s power intentions. It examines the forms, mechanisms and actors of this systematically applied politics of history and memory. First in the context of the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in August 1968 and the justification of the subsequent Soviet Army’s stay in the country, then in the context of the propaganda activities of (pro-)Russian activists in the Czech Republic and the current Russian aggression against Ukraine. By the myth of the Great Patriotic War, the author understands the purposefully created, maintained and idealized image of the victorious campaign of the Red Army between 1941 and 1945, the selfless and unprecedented Soviet heroism that saved European nations from German fascism. This sacralized narrative, which suppresses other historical narratives, is monopolized in contemporary Russian state policy as an important tool to shape the historical memory of Russian society and to unite it against new and presumably hostile threats. The author demonstrates the strategy in which during the normalization of the 1970s and 1980s the soldiers of the Soviet Army, who allegedly provided “fraternal assistance” in the suppression of the counter-revolution in Czechoslovakia in August 1968, were presented as the successors and “sons” of the heroic liberators of 1945 and shows how they themselves used and participated in this cult in their “comradeship” with Czech society. After the collapse of the communist regime, this official narrative lost its weight, but the “Russian world” (russkii mir) as a conglomerate of ideas linking segments of Russian culture, Orthodoxy, nationalism and shared historical memory has penetrated the Czech Republic, serving as a “marketing brand” to spread Russia’s geopolitical influence during Putin’s rule. Through the Russian-language press, web platforms and social media, the author maps the actors and forms of the “Russian world” in the Czech Republic, whose background consists of part of the local Russian minority and local pro-Russian associations or initiatives. She pays particular attention to the nationalist motorcycle club Night Wolves (Nochnye volki) and the originally civic, but gradually becoming a state movement Immortal Regiment (Bessmertnyi polk), which revive and promote the myth of the Great Patriotic War in line with the Kremlin’s intentions and which establish their branches beyond the borders of Russia, including the Czech Republic.

The Museal Production of Hungary’s Inorganic Past and Poland’s Postponed Victory

Author(s): Rose Smith / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

More than thirty years after the fall of communism, both Hungary and Poland are still trying to reinvent their national identity by understanding their pasts. As flagship museums of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary Civic Alliance (Fidesz) in Hungary and Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice Party (PiS) in Poland, the House of Terror (Terror Háza) in Budapest and the Warsaw Rising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego) have been used as epistemological tools in advancing the governing party’s respective memory politics. Within their portrayal of the nation’s contemporary past, these museums also endorse a particular national identity that serves the political desires of both Fidesz and PiS. This article traces how the museums present and signify the nation and how they articulate the national identity espoused by the museum. The author borrows methodological approaches from museum studies and formulates her own research protocol, which identifies three layers of national identity articulation: the presentation of the nation, the representation of the nation, and the political production of national identity.

За ролята на православното духовенство в дейността на гръцките училища в село Арбанаси, Великотърновско

Author(s): Veselin Goranchev / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The study examines some of the additional social activities representatives of the Orthodox clergy as teachers and churchwardens at the local school in the village of Arbanassi in the period from the end of the 18th century till the 1870s. The personalities of three priests are presented – Simeon, Marin, and Ivancho, who performed the functions of teachers. In addition, the activities of four priests – trustees at the school (manciple priest Atanas, sakellarios priest Marin, priest Nicolas and skevophylax priest Hristo), are elucidated.

Църхо и Страхота. Прабългарските имена на св. св. Кирил и Методий

Author(s): Anna Parzymies / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018

Nazwiska mieszczan ukrainskich w ziemi chełmskiej w XVI wieku

Author(s): Irena Mytnik / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 1/2018

The proposed research article aims to explore the social aspects of Ukrainian anthroponomical stock in 17th and 18th centuries which concerns Polish female representatives of the most privileged class in old Ukraine. It presents and describes their baptismal names, additional identifiers and personal identification formulae (naming styles), which were a language measure for the social differentiation.

Фонетические особенности адаптации христианских имен в марийском языке

Author(s): Aleksandr Pustyakov / Language(s): English,Russian Issue: 1/2018

This article deals with the forms of Christian names used by Marispeaking people in the Middle Volga region. It provides a general picture of the phonetic modifications made in Mari versions of Russian Christian names when they were adopted. At the beginning of article information is given on Russian-Mari contacts and the development of the Orthodox religion on Mari territory. The author reveals phonetic mechanisms of adaptation, which enabled Christian names to be integrated into the onomastic system of the Mari language. The data of adopted personal names used in analysis is not exhaustive; it does, however, allow one to show certain phonetic inflections in adopted names. Part of the phonetic modifications are systematic and some appear inconsistent while even others can be taken as individual cases.

Ономастичні засоби творення художнього образу міста у ліриці Ольги Пресіч

Author(s): Irina Nakashidze / Language(s): English,Ukrainian Issue: 1/2018

In the article onomastic means of creating an artistic image of the city are investigated in the work of Olga Pressitch, an Ukrainian-Canadian poet. There is determined, that central city in her creativity is the capital of Ukraine – Kyiv. This is typical for emigration poetry as a manifestation of self-identity. The image of the city is portrayed primarily through toponymic names of streets, buildings and so on. It is revealed that in Olga Pressitch’s lyrics world and place names are also presented, that helps to demolish the image of the motherland into the global context.

Ономастикон драматичної поеми «Бояриня» Лесі Українки

Author(s): Tetyana Krupenyova / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 1/2018

Дисертации

Author(s): Nikola Kazanski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 45/2022

Defended PhD theses in Bulgaria in the field of linguistics, literature, history, folklore, ethnography and art studies

Шестнадесети Цар-Шишманови дни

Author(s): Rossen Malchev,Konstantin Rangochev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 45/2022

Международен форум за кирилицата

Author(s): Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova,Vanya Micheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 45/2022

Кръгла маса „Българистиката в съвременния свят – предизвикателства и възможности“

Author(s): Velka Popova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 45/2022

Аксиния Джурова на 80 години

Author(s): Aleksandra Trifonova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 45/2022

Предраг Матеич на 70 години

Author(s): Diana P. Atanassova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 45/2022

In memoriam Дануше Хронкова

Author(s): Nikolay Zhelev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 45/2022

MACEDONIAN AND GREEK REFUGEE CHILDREN IN EASTERN EUROPE: LANGUAGE, POLITICS AND IDENTITIES

Author(s): Riki Van Boeschoten / Language(s): English Issue: 18-19/2019

The paper uses life stories and archival evidence to explore the relations between Macedonian and Greek refugee children who escaped the violence of the Greek Civil War and grew up in children’s homes in Eastern Europe. More in particular it examines the dominant role of the Greek Communist Party on the refugees’ lives, the organization of Macedonian-language education and the tensions created by the anti-Tito campaign launched by the Cominform countries. It discusses the short-lived establishment of an autonomous Macedonian organization in Poland during the early 1960s. And finally, it analyzes the oral memories of both Greek and Macedonian refugee children about their mutual – largely harmonious - relations. The paper argues that the recovery of such memories in light of contemporary conflicts between the two countries might be an important resource for the future.

LE RETOUR DES PÉLASGES. INÉGALITÉS ET IMAGINAIRE NATIONAL SUR LA FRONTIÈRE ENTRE LA GRÈCE ET L’ALBANIE

Author(s): Gilles de Rapper / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

The revival and popular success of theories on the Pelasgian origin of Albanians since the late 1990s is a significant phenomenon of post-socialist identity processes, yet relatively neglected by the scientific literature. The now well-established neo-Pelasgian discourse sees Albanians as direct descendants of the Pelasgians, a prehistoric population conceived as the origin of all civilizations in the ancient Mediterranean. The aim of this article is to provide a first picture of this quest for origins and to propose an explanation. The argument is that neo-Pelasgianism can be seen as the result of a combination of the history of ideas about the origins of Albanians since the nineteenth century, on the one hand, and of the dynamics of identity linked to the opening of Albania’s borders at the beginning of the 1990s and the massive migration of Albanians to Greece, on the other. The demonstration is based both on a review of the neo-Pelasgian literature and on fieldwork conducted in southern Albania. It aims to show that far from being limited to the reveries of amateurs, discourses on imagined origins, of which neo-Pelasgianism is an example, have real effects on societies and territories.

DE L’ÎLE DE COS À BODRUM ET AU DELÀ : REPRÉSENTATIONS DE L’ALTERITÉ ET PRATIQUES FRONTALIÈRES ENTRE LA GRÈCE ET LA TURQUIE

Author(s): Kira Kaurinkoski / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

This paper discusses perceptions of alterity on the Greek island of Kos and analyses border crossing practices at the Greek-Turkish border in the Aegean. The paper differentiates between different categories of locals according to their ethnic and religious belonging (Greek Orthodox and Muslim Turks in Kos, and “mainland” Turks and Kos Turks in Turkey). In Kos, distancing strategies can be explained by competition for limited resources, as well as identity and visibility politics. Perceptions of Turkey and border crossing practices also differ according to ethnic lines. For ethnic Turks, Turkey represents a second homeland; for Greek Orthodox, a powerful neighbouring country with whom historical and political relations are difficult. As this paper shows, lived and shared experiences can, however, nuance the perception of others. The paper is based on ethnographic field research and interviews conducted by the author on the Greek island of Kos, and in Bodrum, Izmir and Ceşme in Western Turkey.

FRONTIÈRES GÉOGRAPHIQUES, SOCIALES ET MÉMORIELLES : CIRCULER ENTRE LA TURQUIE, LA GRÈCE ET LA BELGIQUE

Author(s): Katerina Seraïdari / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

The article examines the life story of a Greek Pontic, who migrated from central Macedonia (Greece) to Belgium in 1965. The account of his life starts with his father being born and living in the Samsun province (Ottoman Empire), that is before the exchange of populations in the 1920s and his arrival to Greece as refugee. This dense and precise life history narrative not only allows us to revisit major events of Greek history, but also to follow the social and geographical transitions and trajectories that a family made during a century. Socialization processes, appropriation and loss of economic resources, political choices, transmission of stereotypes are some of the issues discussed here. The analysis of this material is inspired by cognitive anthropology: one of the aims has been to examine how « analogic thinking », through the connections and the correspondences it establishes, leads to exegetical reflections that facilitate the process of understanding and coping with novel situations. In this framework, analogies not only play a heuristic role, but also give the impression of intimately knowing not lived situations and experiences of the past. By listing similarities and differences, analogical arguments become an adaptation tool in migratory contexts as the one analyzed here.

LE MUSÉE DES PROPHÉTIES DE KREMNA (SERBIE OCCIDENTALE) AU CROISEMENT DES FRONTIÈRES ET DES PATRIMOINES

Author(s): Galia Valtchinova / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

The paper is focused on Kremna, a village in Western Serbia close to the Serbian-Bosnian border where a series of prophetic pronouncements, recorded and publicized in the early 20th century, gained momentum during the demise of Yugoslavia and are undergoing a process of heritage-making. It builds on two kinds of ethnography: visits of the field “site” which is the Museum/Memorial of the Prophecy”, and an ethnography of a main road which crosses the state border and relates two former Yugoslav countries. The first and longer part of the paper is dedicated to Kremna, its prophets, the prophecies and to those promoting it as the “Serbian Delphi”. It first outlines the local context and the history of the purportedly prophetic pronouncements subsequently known by the name of the village. It uncovers the logic and the circumstances in which the Kremna prophecies have been brought to public knowledge, to become a banner of Serbian national aspirations and during the last decades, of nationalism. A special section is dedicated to the legitimation of local prophets and the inscription of their work in the longue durée history as well as in cosmic processes. The second part evolves around the ethnography of the road Užice-Višegrad, Kremna being half way from both. It helps to grasp the overall landscape of history- memory- and heritage sites, the dynamics of their intertwining, and the creation of a kind of symbolic grammar of events, personae and cultural items which impacts the historical imagination. Throughout the paper, attention is paid to the importance of border and of boundaries broadly speaking in the microareas where outspoken national prophets are born and have lived.