One of the most important qualities that has always distinguished humans from animals is, of course, considered memory. The past for man is the most important source for the formation of his own consciousness and the determination of his personal place in society and the world around him.
Losing his memory, a person loses his orientation among his surroundings, social ties are collapsing.
What is collective historical memory?
Memory is not abstract knowledge of any events. Memory is life experience, knowledge of events experienced and felt, reflected emotionally. Historical memory is a collective concept. It lies in maintaining public as well as understanding of historical experience. The collective memory of generations can be among family members, the population of the city, and among the whole nation, country and all mankind.
Stages of development of historical memory
It must be understood that collective historical memory, as well as individual, has several stages of development.
The first is oblivion. After a certain period of time, people are inherent in forgetting events. This can happen quickly, but it can happen in a few years. Life does not stand still, a series of episodes does not interrupt, and many of them are replaced by new impressions and emotions.
Secondly, people again and again encounter past facts in scientific articles, literary works and the media. And everywhere the interpretations of the same events can vary greatly. And not always they can be attributed to the concept of "historical memory." Each author sets out the arguments for the events in his own way, putting his opinion and personal attitude into the narrative. And it doesn’t matter what theme it will be - world war, all-Union construction or the consequences of a hurricane.
Readers and listeners will perceive the event through the eyes of a reporter or writer. Various options for presenting the facts of the same event enable people to analyze, compare the opinions of different people and draw their own conclusions. The true memory of the people can develop only with freedom of speech, and it will be completely distorted with total censorship.
The third, most important stage in the development of historical memory of people is a comparison of events occurring in the present tense with facts from the past. The relevance of today's problems of society can sometimes be directly related to the historical past. Only by analyzing the experience of past achievements and mistakes can a person be able to create.
Hypothesis of Maurice Halbwax
The theory of historical collective memory, like any other, has its founder and followers. Maurice Halbwax, the French philosopher and sociologist, was the first to hypothesize that the concepts of historical memory and history are far from the same thing. He first suggested that history begins exactly when social memory and tradition end. There is no need to fix on paper what is still alive in the memories.
Halbwax's theory proved the necessity of writing history only for subsequent generations when there are few surviving witnesses of historical events or they are no longer at all. There were quite a few followers and opponents of this theory. The number of the second ones increased after the war against fascism, during the years of which all members of the philosopher's family were killed, and he died in Buchenwald.
Ways to transfer memorable events
The memory of the people for past events was expressed in various forms. In ancient times, it was an oral transmission of information in fairy tales, legends and traditions. The characters of oral folk art were endowed with the heroic features of real people, distinguished by their exploits and courage. Epic stories always glorified the courage of the defenders of the Fatherland.
Later these were books, and now the main sources of coverage of historical facts are the media. Today, they mainly form our perception and attitude to the experience of the past, life-changing events in politics, economics, culture and science.
The relevance of the historical memory of the people
In the modern world , the problem of historical memory is especially relevant . Indeed, without the experience of the past, a person is not able to recognize what will be possible and what is not for him. Only knowing the history of the development of their people, people are able to determine what will be useful for society in the future.
Today's tendency to rewrite historical events should definitely alert all of humanity. Unfortunately, some modern radical coalitions based their beliefs on the theory of the German representative of irrationalism, F. Nietzsche, expressed by him in his book “On the Benefits and Dangers of History”. They are trying to rethink the historical experience of the tragic events of destructive wars, arguing that a person needs to "clean" consciousness from imperfection. The preservation of historical memory is the main task of most of society, which does not accept the distortion of the events of the history of its people.
The moral crisis of the memory of generations
The problem of historical memory unites many sciences around itself: philosophy and psychology, ethnography, history and sociology. All of them are unanimous in their opinion that the perception of present-day events directly depends on knowledge and assessment of past events. Historical memory is a powerful regulator of social consciousness. If we talk about Russian society of the modern period, we can safely say that among the Russians, as well as among other peoples, a moral crisis is obvious.
Therefore, the main task for the older generation of our country already in the 21st century is the formation of priorities for the young generation and the desire to preserve the memory of the past of their country.
The formation of a historical connection between generations of Russians today encounters many obstacles. From the TV screen, in newspapers and magazines, and especially on the Internet, radically opposite coverage of the same events constantly appears. And this concerns not only the facts of our time, but also the events of past years and past centuries. How to avoid breaking historical ties and preserve the memory of generations?
The issue of continuity of historical memory
The theme of the historical memory of Russians today is heard at almost every scientific conference, at all symposia on the problems of youth. First of all, one must understand that the problem of the formation of historical memory in the young generation is multifaceted, and many factors influence it. This is a complex process, including both social and economic conditions, ideology and education, as well as a general attitude to the history of your country. The main task of science in this matter is the systematic study of history from the school bench and reliable coverage of historical facts on the pages of school textbooks. Only in this way will we be able to realize the slogan: “We will preserve the historical memory of Russians.”
We begin to preserve and cherish the memory of history at school
The historical memory of Russia overcame difficulties for many centuries. This is due to the multinational composition of the population of our country. Each ethnic group that is part of Russia has its own culture and traditions, religious values and beliefs. Therefore, it will be especially important to create a unified school curriculum for the Russian-speaking population, which will be aimed at creating an all-Russian identity.
Already at school, children need to build the ability to compare and evaluate the experience of past generations and their own. For today, this task is not easy, since in recent decades there has been a clear decline in the prestige of history as a school subject.
It is sad to admit that today the only identifier of Russian society is the memory of the Great Patriotic War. The historical memory of the mass death of compatriots in these terrible years, of large-scale destruction and brilliant victories, of the military achievements of Russian science is a powerful regulator of the consciousness of Russian youth. The merits of our ancestors, who defended the independence of the country, and the memory of future generations are the links of one chain, the continuity between grandfathers and fathers, fathers and children.
Why is the memory of the war fading?
Time is the best pain healer, but the worst factor for memory. This concerns both the memory of generations about the war and the historical memory of the people as a whole. Erasing the emotional component of memories depends on several reasons.
The first thing that greatly affects the power of memory is the time factor. Every year the tragedy of these terrible days is moving away more and more. 70 years have passed since the victorious end of World War II.
The integrity of the events of the war years is also influenced by the political and ideological factor. The intensity of the political situation in the modern world allows the media to evaluate many aspects of the war unreliably, from a negative point of view, convenient for politicians.
And another inevitable factor affecting the people's memory of the war is natural. This is a natural loss of eyewitnesses, defenders of the Motherland, those who defeated fascism. Every year we lose those who carry a "living memory". With the departure of these people, the heirs of their victory are not able to preserve the memory in the same colors. Gradually, it takes on shades of real events of the present and loses its credibility.
Let's keep a “living" memory of the war
The historical memory of the war is formed and preserved in the minds of the young generation not only from bare historical facts and a chronicle of events.
The most emotional factor is “living memory”, that is, directly the memory of the people. Each Russian family knows about these terrible years from eyewitness accounts: stories of grandfathers, letters from the front, photographs, military items and documents. Many evidence of the war is stored not only in museums, but also in personal archives.
It’s already difficult for little Russians today to imagine a hungry destructive time that brings grief every day. That piece of bread, laid down according to the norm in the besieged Leningrad, those daily radio reports on events at the front, that terrible sound of the metronome, that postman who brought not only letters from the front line, but also the funeral. But fortunately, they can still hear the stories of their great-grandfathers about the staunchness and courage of the Russian soldiers, about how little boys slept at the machines, only to make more shells for the front. True, these stories are rarely without tears. It is too painful for them to remember.
Artistic image of war
The second possibility of preserving the memory of the war is literary descriptions of the events of the war years in books, documentaries and feature films. Against the backdrop of large-scale events in the country, they always touch on the topic of the individual fate of a person or family. It is encouraging that the interest in military topics today is manifested not only in anniversary dates. Over the past decade, many films have appeared that tell about the events of the Great Patriotic War. Using the example of a single fate, the viewer is introduced to the front-line difficulties of pilots, sailors, reconnaissance, sappers and snipers. Modern cinema technologies allow the young generation to feel the scale of the tragedy, hear the “real” volleys of guns, feel the heat of the flame of Stalingrad, see the severity of military crossings during the redeployment of troops
Contemporary coverage of history and historical consciousness
Understanding and understanding of modern society about the years and events of World War II today is ambiguous. The main explanation for this ambiguity can rightly be considered the information war launched in the media in recent years.
Today, without disdaining any ethical standards, the world media give their word to those who, during the war, took the side of fascism and participated in the mass genocide of people. Some recognize their actions as "positive," thereby trying to erase the memory of their cruelty and inhumanity. Bandera, Shukhevych, General Vlasov and Helmut von Pannwitz today have become heroes for radical youth. All this is the result of an information war, about which our ancestors had no idea. Attempts to distort historical facts sometimes reach the point of absurdity when the merits of the Soviet Army are belittled.
Protecting the authenticity of events - preserving the historical memory of the people
The historical memory of the war is the main value of our people. Only it will allow Russia to remain the strongest state.
The reliability of the historical events covered today will help to preserve the truth of facts and clarity in assessing the past experience of our country. The struggle for truth is always difficult. Even if this struggle is “with fists”, we must defend the truth of our history in memory of our grandfathers.