The events of military history of 1942 and their interpretation in ego documents of F. S. Oktyabrsky

The article analyzes the coverage of two tragic events of the Great Patriotic War: the defeat of the Crimean Front (May 1942) and the capture of Sevastopol by Nazi troops (June-July 1942) in ego documents (diaries, letters, texts of public speeches, personal records) of F. S. Oktyabrsky (1899-1969), who was the vice admiral, commander of the Black Sea Navy Fleet at that time. Having analyzed the materials of 1942-1969, the author concludes that subjectivity typical for sources of personal origin, the author’s desire to present himself positively, the trend to shift the responsibility for defeats and failures to factors independent of his will or to other persons, increases as he moves from communicative memory to cultural memory. The case of F. S. Oktyabrsky is a vivid example of the active desire to influence the content of the memorial narrative (published memoirs, official documents, encyclopedic articles and publications in periodicals), declared as a «battle for truth» which turns into «wars of memory» with other event participants, researchers and representatives of creative professions who become «designers» of cultural memory.