External and Internal Impact on Soviet Memorial Landscape Development by THE World War II

The World War II led to serious casualties and left deep scars / wounds of memory. As the victory over occupation regime was glorified, honored and starting from 1965 was widely celebrated at national level, there was a great gap between official and personal memory of war. Monuments are one of the forms of living examples of the past and thus are reliable sources for the study of different epochs and Zeitgeist / spirit of time and their changes. This article considers the development of Soviet memorial landscape by the World War II starting from the war termination to the Soviet Union collapse. Special attention is attached to internal political and international views / interpretations and development with respect to victims of war. In other words, the process of different groups of war victims exclusion and inclusion in Soviet collective memory under the influence of internal political and foreign political interests symbiosis. And, as a result, resultant attitude towards memorial places.