Historical memory. Problems of the historical memory of Russia

One of the most important qualities that has always distinguished man from animals is undoubtedly memory. The past for man is the most important source for the formation of one's own consciousness and the definition of a personal place in society and the surrounding world.

Losing memory, a person loses and orientation among the environment, social connections are ruined.

What is collective historical memory?

Memory is not an abstract knowledge of any events. Memory is a life experience, a knowledge of events experienced and felt, reflected emotionally. Historical memory is a collective concept. It lies in the preservation of the social, as well as in the understanding of historical experience. The collective memory of generations can be both among family members, the city's population, and the whole nation, the country and all of humanity.

Stages of development of historical memory

It must be understood that collective historical memory, as well as individual memory, has several stages of development.

First, this is oblivion. After a certain period of time, people tend to forget events. It can happen quickly, and can happen in a few years. Life does not stand still, a series of episodes is not interrupted, and many of them are replaced by new impressions and emotions.

Secondly, people again and again face the past facts in scientific articles, literary works and the media. And everywhere the interpretation of the same events can vary widely. And not always they can be attributed to the notion of "historical memory". Arguments of events each author sets out in his own way, putting his narrative and personal attitude into the narrative. And it does not matter what kind of topic it will be - a world war, an all-union construction or the consequences of a hurricane.

Readers and listeners will perceive the event through the eyes of a reporter or writer. Different versions of the presentation of the facts of the same event enable people to analyze, compare the opinions of different people and draw their own conclusions. True memory of the people is able to develop only with the freedom of speech, and it will be completely distorted under total censorship.

The third, most important stage in the development of the historical memory of people is the juxtaposition of events taking place in the present tense with facts from the past. The relevance of today's problems of society can be directly related to the historical past. Only by analyzing the experience of past achievements and mistakes, a person is able to create.

Hypothesis of Maurice Halbwachs

The theory of historical collective memory, like any other, has its founder and followers. The French philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwachs first put forward the hypothesis that the notions of historical memory and history are far from the same thing. He first suggested that history begins when social memory and tradition end. There is no need to fix on paper what is still alive in memories.

The theory of Halbwachs proved the necessity of writing history only for subsequent generations, when there are few witnesses of historical events left alive or they are no longer there at all. Followers and opponents of this theory was quite a lot. The number of the second increased after the war with fascism, in the years of which all members of the philosopher's family were killed, and he himself died in Buchenwald.

Ways to transfer memorable events

The memory of the people for the past events was expressed in various forms. In the old days it was oral transmission of information in fairy tales, legends and legends. Characters of oral folk art were endowed with heroic features of real people, distinguished themselves by exploits and courage. The stories of the past have always sung the courage of the defenders of the Fatherland.

Later it was books, and now the main sources of coverage of historical facts are the media. Today they mainly shape our perception and attitude to the experience of the past, the fateful 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 urgent . After all, without the experience of the past, a person can not recognize what will be possible for him and what will not. 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 have taken the theory of the German representative of irrationalism F. Nietzsche, expressed in his book "On the Benefits and Harm of History", as the basis of their convictions. They are trying to rethink the historical experience of the tragic events of devastating wars, arguing that a person needs to "clean" the consciousness of imperfection. The preservation of historical memory is the main task of the greater part of society, that it does not accept distortion of the events of the history of its people.

The moral crisis of the memory of generations

The problem of historical memory unites around itself a multitude of sciences: philosophy and psychology, ethnography, history and sociology. All of them are unanimous in the opinion that the perception of the events of the present time directly depends on the knowledge and evaluation of the events of the past. Historical memory is a powerful regulator of public consciousness. If we talk about the Russian society of the modern period, we can safely say that among the Russians, as well as among other peoples, there is a clear moral crisis.

Therefore, the main task for the older generation of our country in the XXI century is the formation of the younger generation of priorities and the desire to preserve the memory of the past of their country.

Formation of the historical connection of generations of Russians today faces many obstacles. From the TV screen, in newspapers and magazines and especially on the Internet, radically opposite lighting of the same events are constantly appearing. And this applies not only to the facts of the present, but also to the events of the past and the past centuries. How to avoid the severance of historical ties and preserve the memory of generations?

The question of continuity of historical memory

The theme of the historical memory of Russians today sounds almost at every scientific conference, at all symposiums dedicated to the problems of youth. First of all, we must understand that the problem of the formation of historical memory among the young generation is multifaceted, and many factors influence it. This is a very complicated process, including both social and economic conditions, ideology and education, and a common attitude to the history of our 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 we can realize the slogan: "Let's preserve the historical memory of Russians".

To preserve and preserve the memory of history, we begin at school

The historical memory of Russia overcomes many centuries of complexity. This is due to the multinationality of the 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 program for the Russian-speaking population, which will be aimed at the formation of an all-Russian identity.

Already in school, children need to form the ability to compare and evaluate the experience of past generations and their own. For today, this task is not easy, because in recent decades there has been a clear decline in the prestige of history as a school subject.

It is sad to recognize the fact 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 country's independence, and the memory of future generations are links of one chain, continuity between grandfathers and fathers, fathers and children.

Why is the memory of the war weakening?

Time is the best healer of pain, but the worst factor for memory. This concerns both the memory of generations about the war, and in general the historical memory of the people. The erasure of the emotional component of memories depends on several reasons.

The first thing that strongly affects the power of memory is a time factor. Every year the tragedy of these terrible days is increasingly moving away. Since the victorious completion of the Second World War 70 years passed by now.

The security of the authenticity of the events of the old years is also affected by the political and ideological factor. The stress of the political situation in the modern world allows the media to assess many aspects of the war unreliable, from the negative point of view, convenient policies.

And one more inevitable factor that influences people's memory of the war is natural. This is the natural loss of eyewitnesses, defenders of the Motherland, those who defeated fascism. Every year we lose those who carry "living memory". With the departure of these people, the heirs of their victory can not keep the memory in the same colors. Gradually, it acquires the shades of real events of the present and loses its authenticity.

We will save the "living" memory of the war

The historical memory of the war is formed and preserved in the consciousness of the younger generation not only from bare historical facts and the chronicle of events.

The most emotional factor is "living memory", that is, directly the people's memory. Every Russian family knows about these terrible years from eyewitness accounts: stories of grandfathers, letters from the front, photographs, military things and documents. Many of the evidences of the war are kept not only in museums, but also in personal archives.

It is now difficult for small Russians to imagine a hungry, devastating time, which brings grief every day. That piece of bread, laid at a standard in besieged Leningrad, those daily messages on the radio about events at the front, that terrible sound of the metronome, the postman who brought not only letters from the frontline, but also funerals. But fortunately, they can still hear the stories of their great-grandfathers about the staunchness and courage of Russian soldiers, about how little boys slept at the machines, in order to only make more shells for the front. True, these stories are rarely without tears. It's too painful for them to remember.

Artistic image of war

The second possibility of preserving the memory of the war is a literary description of the events of the war years in books, documentary and feature films. In them, against the background of large-scale events of the country, the theme of the individual destiny of a person or family is always touched upon. It is encouraging that the interest in military subjects today is manifested not only in the jubilee dates. Over the past decade, many movies have appeared that tell of the events of the Great Patriotic War. On the example of a particular fate, the viewer is introduced to the front-line difficulties of pilots, sailors, scouts, sappers and snipers. Modern technologies of cinematography allow the young generation to feel the scale of the tragedy, hear "real" volleys of guns, feel the heat of the flame of Stalingrad, see the severity of military transitions during the redeployment of troops

Modern history coverage and historical consciousness

Understanding and representation of modern society about the years and events of World War II is ambiguous today. The main explanation for this ambiguity can rightly be considered an information war, deployed in the media in recent years.

Today, not abhorring any ethical standards, the world media give a 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 their cruelty and inhumanity in their memory. Bandera, Shukhevich, General Vlasov and Helmut von Pannwitz today became heroes for the radical-minded youth. All this is the result of an information war, about which our ancestors had no idea. Attempts to distort historical facts sometimes reach absurdity, when the merits of the Soviet Army are reduced.

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 the facts and the clarity of 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.