Secondly , it reveals how comprehensively the meaning of a memorial can change over time . During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 we saw this in action : monuments that were put up in the 18 th or 19 th centuries to symbolise virtue and heroism had , by the 21 st century , come to represent a completely different set of values : slavery , racism and oppression . A similar thing has occurred to monuments from the Communist era , including monuments to the Second World War . Soviet soldiers were once considered the greatest heroes of the war ; but now , because of revelations in the 1990s about how they behaved during the liberation , particularly in Berlin , they are considered amongst the war ’ s worst perpetrators .
Thirdly , this event shows how the memory of the Second World War has been weaponised in the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine . Vladimir Putin has repeatedly drawn on Russian memories of the war in order to galvanise his country . He routinely refers to Ukrainians , and indeed their supporters in the West , as “ Nazis ”. The attack on Treptower Park was partly a reaction to that : in the battle for hearts and minds , our memories about the Second World War have become the central battleground .
Finally , and perhaps most importantly , it demonstrates a wider shift in society which prioritises the memory of victimhood over that of heroism . Putin paints his country as a victim of the EU , America and NATO . Ukraine , a little more plausibly , portrays itself as a victim of Russian aggression . The population of Europe have also become the “ victims ” of food and fuel shortages , and higher inflation caused by
2 . Oradour-sur-Glane . South entrance to the village in ruins , seen from the esplanade of the church on the left . The main street then goes up on the left . On the right , the Limoges tramway track . Dna-Dennis ( Wikimedia Commons )
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Observing Memories Issue 6