History of the Great Patriotic War in a textbook for higher educational institutions of Soviet Tajikistan

The article describes and analyses the chapter on the Great Patriotic War from the textbook «History of the Tajik SSR». The textbook was published in 1965 for the higher education institutions of the republic of Tajikistan. Since the textbook was written during the «thaw» period, it reflects the situation regarding the interpretation of the postwar history after the debunking of the personality cult of I. V. Stalin. The article characterizes the structure and main plot of the chapter about the Great Patriotic War. It focuses on the scientific activities of the textbook editor Academician Z. S. Radzhabov and the author of the chapter historian L. P. Sechkina. It concludes that the textbook on the history of Tajikistan for the institutions of higher education, like any other Soviet textbook, performed primarily propaganda and educational functions. The information about the Great Patriotic War is dominated by the Soviet discourse about the leading role of the party and the Soviet government. In addition, the textbook emphasizes the significant contribution of the USSR to the defeat of Nazi Germany, as the main winner among the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. Much was said about patriotism, heroism and the selfless work of common people thanks to whom the enemy was defeated. In this regard, the author of the chapter mentions the residents of Tajikistan who distinguished themselves both at the front and in the rear. This textbook was a media channel of the cultural memory of the Soviet society about the past of Tajikistan and contributed to the formation of mass historical knowledge in the republic.