The Politics of World War II Memories in the North: Russia and Norway

Under Vladimir Putin, memory practices related to the Great Patriotic War have assumed an increasingly prominent position in Russian politics and identity-building, both in the domestic sphere and in Moscow's foreign policy. In this seminar, new research from the NORMEMO project showcases how the Kremlin-driven politics of war memories have unfolded in the northernmost parts of Norway and in Northwest Russia, two regions that share not only a border but also a long a history of interaction.

The concluding lecture by Dr. Jade McGlynn illuminates how Moscow's memory policies are part of the Kremlin's information and cognitive warfare, exported to Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine as well as elsewhere.

PROGRAM

12.00-12.30 Lunch and mingling

12.30-12.35 Welcome. Stian Bones (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)

12.35-12.50 The NORMEMO project – topics, perspectives, and key findings. Kari Aga Myklebost (UiT)

12.50-13.25 Panel I. The reach of state-induced patriotism: Memory politics in Northwest Russia

Participants: Håvard Bækken (Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies), Elena Kochetkova (University of Bergen), and Helge Blakkisrud (University of Oslo). Chair: Kari Aga Myklebost

13.25-14.00 Panel II. Instrumentalizing war history: Russia and Norway

Participants: Joakim Markussen (UiT), Kristian Gjerde (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), and Marianne Soleim (UiT). Chair: Stian Bones

14.00-14.15 Coffee break

14.15-15.00 Dr. Jade McGlynn: Memory Traps: Russian historical propaganda at home and abroad

Concluding remarks. Kari Aga Myklebost

Jade McGlynn is head of the Ukraine and Russia programme at Centre for Statecraft and National Security, King’s College London, where she is also a Leverhulme Early Career Researcher. She is also an associated fellow at ICDS, Estonia, and CSIS, USA. She is the author of two books, Russia's War (2023) and Memory Makers: the politics of the past in Putin's Russia (2023). Her research focuses on Russia's war in Ukraine since 2014 through the lenses of identity, memory, propaganda, and occupation.