Current source study of the history of the Great Patriotic War. Problems and prospects of studying the art heritage of 1941-1945

The article emphasizes an urgency of the role of an art heritage and folklore of 1941-1945 years as perspective source for studying influence of war on the person and a society. By the example of activity of artists of a front seal the variety of displays of satire and humour in wartime is shown. An example of the fact that laughter and humor played a major role in the war can be found in the memoirs of many combatants, civilians, people of different professions. Even full of terrible details of the memories of children are mentions of Stalingrad as the edge of death, hopeless situation, people have found the strength to joke. Culture of folk humor - a powerful spiritual resource of any nation. On the one hand, it appears the attitude of people in a particular era. On the other hand, satire, humor, laughter - effective tools of propaganda and ideological influence. The culture of laughter responded to the challenges of wartime. It is possible to identify the mechanisms of self-preservation society and the individual. The issue of the research project “satire, humor, laughter in the culture of the Great Patriotic War”. Visual sources actualize the role of the artistic heritage in the formation of objective, reliable, multi-faceted, holistic scientific knowledge about the processes of socio-cultural development of the state and society in a world war. Artistic interpretation of scientific knowledge and the Great Patriotic War as a phenomenon of history and culture go hand in hand, influencing each other. Message from front generation accumulated in the art form and transmitted to descendants, as a cultural heritage of the Great Patriotic War, is the basis for the formation of the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War and World War II as a whole.