Festive Commemorations as a Part of the Soviet Politics of Reminiscence of the Nazi Occupation (the Kharkov Region Case Study), 1943–1953

The article presents the Nazi occupation in the public space of Soviet period, which highlighted the success of the economic recovery and motivated the population on new achievements. Specific method of occupation representation inseparably linked the urban identity of Kharkov and its Soviet character, while the celebration rituals used mostly the rhetoric of population’s gratitude for liberation. This fact promoted the reintegration of the postwar society on the base of Stalinist political culture. Despite the fact that after 1948 there were no days-off in commemoration of the war, war reminiscences were celebrated at the local level during the postwar period, but they mostly related to mobilization and propaganda, rather than to recreation and entertainment.