Symposium “Echoes of Empire: Soviet Monuments and the Machinery of Disinformation“ in Berlin

“As it is frequently told: History is written by winners. Also, monuments are erected by winners to celebrate their victories, values, ideologies, and perspectives. Soviet WW2 monuments are highly loaded ideological power symbols. Now, when the Soviet Union is gone, they continue to represent the powers of the Soviet shadow that hangs over all of us. Particularly, over victims of those countries which historian Timothy D. Snyder describes as the bloodlands. Soviet crimes in Europe were never fully investigated and never got a full condemnation in Europe due to a number of reasons. Currently, when Russia is engaged in a full-scale war against Ukraine and escalates hybrid attacks against many other European states, these symbols embody the ideology and principles of new Russian imperialism. They become part of the war against European values, freedom, justice, and democracy. Therefore, Soviet symbols have no more place in the Free World because by tolerating these symbols we compromise our moral integrity. Soviet monuments are not history as many other historic monuments; they are the living embodiment of the rising threat to all that is dear to us, and they are intensively used by Russian strategic communication to unite subjects of the Russian state against their neighbours while simultaneously encouraging fragmentation of Western democratic societies by promoting doubt and disbelief in our own values and actions.”

“After the decline of a regime or empire, symbols, such as coats of arms, street names, monuments, face critical scrutiny. Initial steps often include their renaming and removal. Later, a critical debate emerges: what do these objects represent, and should they be preserved, destroyed, replaced, or contextualised? Such processes typically start once the “hot” phase of change has passed, and every society finds different ways to deal with these material signs of an overcome past.”

“Monuments don't just mark history; they silence it. These monuments should not be erased. Rather, the stories surrounding them must be rewritten.”

"The Ukrainian community in Germany has been faced with the challenging task: how and where to properly commemorate the end of World War II in Berlin and the participation of Ukrainians in the Red Army. In Ukraine, Soviet memorials were mostly removed during decolonisation and de-Sovietisation campaigns. What about the Soviet soldiers’ cemeteries in East Germany? Should they continue to be treated as "Russian" memorials? How and when can seemingly "invisible" Soviet memorials be politically re-actualised and weaponised? These questions require serious reconsideration in the context of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.”

“I strongly believe that recontextualization offers a productive and critical way to engage with dissonant monuments, enabling societies to confront difficult histories and memory conflicts. This approach can include contemporary heritage conservation, artistic interventions, historical research and exhibitions, as well as textual, educational, and performative programs. With this in mind, we have initiated the project How to Reframe Monuments, in which historians, art historians, conservators, and artists collaborate across disciplines to develop concrete recontextualizations of contested monuments.”

“In Soviet-occupied countries, monuments were erected as a means of controlling space and minds, and spreading ideology that was relevant only to the Soviets. These were rationally constructed tools, built to best fulfill their mission – to control and indoctrinate. Their number and distribution, their specific location in urban structures, and their appearance were designed to create the ideal monument; the remains of soldiers who died in World War II and the victims of this war were also used for this purpose. The Soviet occupiers withdrew, but their essentially perfectly constructed devices remained, which can still be used today to spread narratives and ideas favorable to an aggressive regime. This is evidenced by the not-so-distant experiences of the first decade of the 20th century in Lithuania.”

"Soviet monuments in Europe hold layered and contested meanings today. Their significance varies across places and communities, shaped by local history, memory politics, international relations and contemporary social dynamics. For some, these monuments remain symbols of liberation or personal and family history; for others, they represent oppression and foreign domination. Many are legally protected, reflecting complex national attitudes toward the past. As sites of commemoration, political protest, and artistic intervention, they serve as arenas where societies negotiate identity, memory, and their relationship to history.”