Memory of the Great Patriotic War in the exhibitions of the Kizhi museum during the 1960s-1980s

The article examines the problem of preserving the memory of the Great Patriotic War in non-core museums using the example of the exhibitions of the open-air Kizhi Museum created in the 1960s-1980s. The main sources of the research are thematic exhibition plans, texts of excursions, and corresponding methodological materials. The analysis of the key reasons for the actualization of the memory of the Great Patriotic War in this non-core museum allows us to show the place of this event in the structure of historical knowledge and socio-political life. The article presents the main cases of referring to the events of the Great Patriotic War in the context of the history of the Kizhi Museum and the historiography of the war. In 1961, an exhibition on the history of Zaonezhye was created in the museum. The section of the exhibition presenting the Great Patriotic War was one of the key ones in the structure of the museum display. The purpose of the presentation was to evoke a sense of pride in common history and to commemorate the contribution of local residents to the great victory. An authentic war monument - the mass grave of Soviet soldiers on Kizhi Island - was included into a historical and architectural exhibition complex of the Kizhi Pogost as an object of display. Rituals of commemoration of the fallen soldiers performed at the mass grave during walking tours contributed to the social unity of Soviet citizens and strengthened their patriotic feelings. In 1985, historical interior and memorial exhibition were arranged in the house of peasant Sergin, representing the life of local civilian population, Soviet partisans, and underground sabotage groups during the occupation of Zaonezhye. The exhibitions in Sergin’s house were used by museum curators for conducting patriotic and educational work with museum visitors, primarily young people. The appeal to the memory of the war in non-core museums had ideological and educational significance and contributed to the social unity and assertion of the identity of Soviet citizens.