printNarratives of Post- Memory:
the Representation of the Great Patriotic War in the Family Memory of Three
Generations
Velikaya N.M.
Dr. Sci. (Polit.), Prof., Deputy Director, Institute of SocioPolitical Research – Branch of the FCTS RAS, Russia natalivelikaya@gmail.com
Goloseyeva A.A.
Cand. Sci. (Hist.), Associate Prof., Senior Researcher, Institute of SocioPolitical Research – Branch of the FCTS RAS goloseyeva@yandex.ru
Irsetskaya E.A.
Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Docent, Senior Researcher, Institute of SocioPolitical Research – Branch of the FCTS RAS, Moscow, Russia e.irs@rggu.ru
Velikaya N.M., Goloseyeva A.A., Irsetskaya E.A. Narratives of Post- Memory: the Representation of the Great Patriotic War in the Family Memory of Three Generations. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 5. P. 14-28
The article is devoted to the identification of the Great Patriotic War memory reproduction features. Defining post-memory as the “remote” memory of generations about a significant or traumatic historical event, which they did not personally witness, but acquired memory of it through the stories of relatives of the older generation, as well as through empathy, self-identification and involvement with them, the authors refer to the data of a qualitative sociological study conducted in 2023 and 2024 by the method of in-depth interviews with representatives of three generations in 36 families. The results of the analysis show that family memory is discrete, with lacunae and white spots present in memories of all the 20th century historical periods, including the Great Patriotic War. A full-fledged family history, which is reproduced from generation to generation, can be said to apply to one fourth of the surveyed families. In most cases, it consists of disparate stories, short stories, and family legends, which is precisely what constitutes the so-called “cultural” family memory. At the same time, the period of the Great Patriotic War is one of the most fulfilling segments of family memory and includes both framed stories related to real events and family legends colored by emotional experiences. The authors identify several dominant frames of the family narrative: war as a catastrophe, war as suffering and overcoming, war as a feat, as an adventure. A certain conflict has been identified between the official historical narrative and family memory, which is fraught with the spread among young people of a detached and even indifferent view of the events of the Patriotic War.
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