Myth Making in the Soviet Union and Modern Russia

The 1943 battle to free the Soviet Black Sea port of Novorossiisk from German occupation was fought from the beach head of Malaia zemlia, where the young Colonel Leonid Brezhnev saw action. Despite widespread scepticism of the state's appropriation and inflation of this historical event, the heroes of the campaign are still commemorated in Novorossiisk today by an amalgam of memoir, monuments and ritual. Through the prism of this provincial Russian town, Vicky Davis sheds light on the character of Brezhnev as perceived by his people, and on the process of memory for the ordinary Russian citizen. Davis analyses the construction and propagation of the local war myth to link the individual citizens of Novorossiisk with evolving state policy since World War II and examines the resultant social and political connotations. Her compelling new interdisciplinary evidence reveals the complexity of myth and memory, challenging existing assumptions to show that there is still scope for the local community - and even the individual - in memory construction in an authoritarian environment. This book represents a much-needed departure from the study of myth and memory in larger cities of the former Soviet Union, adding nuance to the existing portrait of Brezhnev and demonstrating the continued importance of war memory in Russia today.

Vicky Davis received her PhD from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London (UCL), and currently works as a freelance educational consultant and researcher. Davis has worked with a number of leading academics in her role as a researcher, including Roger Moorhouse on The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin (2014) and for Polly Jones (Associate Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Oxford) on several Soviet history projects. She has also published and presented in peer-reviewed journals, edited collections and at international conferences, and there is a section dedicated to her research on myth and war memory at the State Historical Museum in Novorossiisk, Russia.

Preface
List of Illustrations
Introduction: The Myth of Malaia zemlia
1.What is a War Myth?
Part 1 War Correspondence and Memoirs: The Construction of the Myth through Literature37
2.A Myth is Born: War Correspondence from Malaia zemlia
3.Early Memoir Literature
4.Brezhnev's War Memoirs
5.Beyond Brezhnev and Brezhnevism
Part 2 Leonid Brezhnev: Local Legend or National Statesman?
6.Brezhnev Comes to Town
7.The Godfather
8.The Making of a Modern Legend
9.The State Comes to Town Again
Part 3 Respect for the Dead: Ritual and Monumental Remembrance
10.Hats off to Heroes: The Beskozyrka Ritual
11.Myth and Monuments: The Place of the Dead
12.People on the Periphery
Part 4 Meetings of Generations: Teaching the Young to Remember
13.Genes and Generations: Informal Transmission of Memory in the Family
14.The Educational Role of Veterans
15.Formal Education of the Younger Generation
Conclusion: Looking Back to the Future
Appendix 1 Some Comments about Novorossiisk
Appendix 2 Interviewing Subjects in Novorossiisk
Select Bibliography