The Memory of Mass Political Repressions in Regional Museums: Mnemonic Strategies and Practices

УДК 94(47).084:069.013 ББК 63.3(2)614-361 + 79.147.11

Abstract

Based on the analysis of observation data in the Republic of Mordovia, the article characterizes the content of representations of Soviet mass political repressions in local history and departmental museums ofrepublics in structure of the Russian Federation as administrative regions belonging to the institutional heritage of the Soviet era, identifies the social functions of fragments of museum expositions devoted to repression in the region and the main strategies of commemoration, including historicization (deactualization) of trauma repression, emphasizing the connection with the civil war and the victims on both sides of the conflict, problematization ofthe Soviet heritage as the basis ofrepublican identity and recycling of the Soviet cultural heritage in order to construct a positive corporate and territorial identity. Based on a comparison with the functions of modern memorial museums, the social functions of fragments of museum expositions dedicated to repressions in the region are revealed. Author states the interest of museum workers in the topic of repression and its exposure in the form of emotional message, explaining the differences between the representations of the Soviet past in provincial local history museums and the concepts of the State Museum of Gulag History or museums of postsocialist countries not only by the lack of professional retraining, but also by the specifics of the regional social context and the variety of potential historical objects for retraumatization.