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History as a Weapon: Historical Revisionism as a Tool of Russian Psychological Aggression in Social Media

by Olesia Zvezdova

Is it possible to change the past? Not in the sense of speculative fiction, nor as an attempt to correct individual mistakes, but as a strategy aimed at securing advantage in large-scale geopolitical competition. To what extent can collective memory of historical events be instrumentalized as a weapon against political adversaries? Is it possible to rewrite the pages of history textbooks and shape a new generation that will sincerely believe in a newly constructed truth? These questions have repeatedly arisen in my research on the key mechanisms of psychological influence employed by the Russian Federation, both with regard to its domestic population and to audiences in European countries. Among the dominant narratives disseminated through Russian and pro-Russian media channels, the manipulation of historical events and historical figures occupies a central place. Therefore, during my fellowship at the IEG DH Lab, I focused my research on historical revisionism in social media as a method of Russian psychological aggression.
„History as a Weapon: Historical Revisionism as a Tool of Russian Psychological Aggression in Social Media“ weiterlesen

Sites of Memory VS Cultural Heritage: Urban Violence in Collective Narratives of Odesa Residents in Wartime

by Iuliia Iashchenko

Part I. The Why and The How: Practices of Documenting Urban Violence on Odesa City

The ongoing war in Ukraine has demonstrated with particular clarity that cultural heritage and urban life are not peripheral but central targets in contemporary armed conflict. Since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, systematic attacks have affected not only military infrastructure but also schools, cultural institutions, and historically significant sites. According to international monitoring frameworks, including those of UNESCO, thousands of cultural heritage locations and urban infrastructures have been damaged or destroyed. Among the most emblematic cases in Odesa is the severe damage inflicted on the Transfiguration Cathedral, alongside numerous other historically and socially significant sites.

These developments highlight an urgent need to rethink both the preservation of cultural heritage and the documentation of lived experience during wartime. „Sites of Memory VS Cultural Heritage: Urban Violence in Collective Narratives of Odesa Residents in Wartime“ weiterlesen

Historians and the archives of today: the LivArch project and the process of documenting the war in Ukraine

by Ian Kisil Marino

There is a dimension of historians’ work that is often overlooked when considering the nature of our profession: the archive. This reference is not to the traditional concept of the archive as merely the location where historians search for historical sources, but rather to the creation of archives. Today’s digital transformation is shaping the archives that future historians will explore. When observing a critical event of the present time, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine (2022-), it becomes evident that many actors are actively involved in documenting and archiving events of their current times – including historians. The various ways in which these archives take shape are critical to understanding what kinds of histories will be possible to write based on such digital resources. The project “LivArch – Documenting Russia’s War Against Ukraine: The Challenges of Living Archives for Historical Knowledge Production” aims to explore such questions, delving into the impacts of transformation on archival practices and, simultaneously, providing an assessment of the current state of the art in emergency digital preservation. But before introducing the project, I propose to reflect a bit more on the relationship between historians and archives, which has been fundamental to our discipline since its consolidation. „Historians and the archives of today: the LivArch project and the process of documenting the war in Ukraine“ weiterlesen