Historian Tamara Eidelman on how the history of war became the history of Victory

The victory over fascism was a great, stunning achievement. My grandfather, who was no longer of age, volunteered, fought through the entire war, and ended it in Prague. Naturally, this is a very important thing, and not just for me—for the whole world.

On the other hand, as a historian, I understand that this war, not just the Great Patriotic War but also World War II, does have its downside. While the Red Army certainly liberated Europe—I have no doubt about that—it's also perfectly clear that dictatorial regimes were established there. As for the cult of victory, that has its roots in Stalin.

Evgeny Dobrenko described this very well, absolutely amazingly, in his book on late Stalinism—he has a whole chapter dedicated to how the history of the war was replaced by the history of victory. I did a live broadcast dedicated to the victory, and I relied heavily on this book.

He writes about how, when people came in the first month after the war, they were eager to express it, to shout it out, to tell about all the horrors they had witnessed—it's always traumatic, it's terrible stress. And how it all gradually fades: no need, no need for horrors, yes, everyone suffered, let's talk about how we won.

This is clearly illustrated by the example of the history of the siege, when in 1946-47 they wrote books, made films in which it is impossible to understand that this is Leningrad under siege: no hunger, no horrors, yes, everyone is suffering, but in fact, everyone is fighting, and fighting, because Stalin calls them to it.

And after this cult, when the war was reduced to nothing but victory, the next step was—this entire victory was achieved not by the people who marched all the way to Berlin, not even by the generals he immediately began to dismiss and belittle—like Zhukov, like Rokossovsky—but by the great Comrade Stalin. This cult of victory, also known as the cult of Stalin. And now, too, it is being revived.

The full interview with Tamara Eidelman can be viewed here