The Siege of Leningrad as a "Lieu de Mémoire" and Collective Memory Narrative in Leningrad/Saint Petersburg in 1940s-2010s.

This research paper analyzes narratives about Blockada that have existed in the collective memory of the citizens of Saint Petersburg. The paper is a result of the interdisciplinary research on trauma, lasting for two years and existing at the crossroads of methods and resources pulled from different fields – History, Cultural History, Memory Studies and Psychology, including the analysis of relevant literature, as well as archival and field work in Russia and in the United States. The hypothesis of this work is that the history of the memory about the siege of Leningrad is the history of competition between two narratives – a heroic state narrative, versus a victimized local narrative. There is no strict border between these two narratives – they are perceived as two poles, where on one side is the official narrative, and on the other is the local, and museums and memorials are magnetized to one or another. The study draws on the work of Pierre Nora, Aleida Asmann, Jeffrey Alexander and Bernard Anderson. The work draws parallels with the construction of the memory of the Holocaust in post-war Poland, using the typology of memory created by Michael Steinlauf. The work consists of an introduction, four chapters and a conclusion. The chapters are presented in chronological order, from 1943 to 2020. The last part of the work is a practical study of the controversy surrounding the installation of a memorial plaque to Marshal Mannerheim in St. Petersburg. The chapter contains examples of the significance of the Blockade for the identity of the residents of St. Petersburg and how actively the residents of the city participate in the memorialization process.