Monuments of the Great Patriotic War during the late Soviet period: variety of social functions and practices

The article characterizes the main social functions of memorial objects (“places of memory”) connected with the events of the Great Patriotic War during the late Soviet period by the example of the Hero Cities of Southern Russia (Volgograd, Sevastopol, Kerch, and Novorossiysk). On the basis of the archival and published sources the authors established the multifunctionality of military memorials which performed not only commemorative, but also political and ideological, mobilizing, informational, educational, recreational, and esthetic functions. The logic of the memorial objects usage is revealed through the set of social practices related with them. In the conditions of formation of the secular cult of the Great Patriotic War observed since the middle of the 1960s in the USSR, many of these practices gained a ritualized character. The main object of these rituals, besides maintening social order and public consensus of memory, was to update the events of the past, strengthen collectivism, and ensure the continuity of generations in the Soviet society. The creative decisions used for the design and construction of memorial objects during the late Soviet period considered the variety of functional tasks which they had to carry out.