Perception of the Great Patriotic War by Russian high school students: analysis of the symbols and images

The work considers the results of the analysis of the imaginal and symbolic aspects of the perception of the Great Patriotic war by Russian high school students. The relevance of this research is due to the key significance of the events of 1941-1945 in the formation of the identity of the Soviet people and Russian nation. The results presented in this paper indicate that the process of loss of symbolic content by the Great Patriotic War is destructive for the Russian political consciousness. A small number of respondents associate modern Russia with Victory and mention War heroes as examples of citizenship. The data obtained correlate positively with the results of surveys conducted by WCIOM and FOM, according to which most of the respondents do not have basic knowledge about the War. These indicators may be due to the fragmented historical policy implemented in Russia, as well as the long-term exploitation of the symbolic potential of the Great Patriotic War without involving other events in Russian history. Thus, the subjects of identity politics are faced with the task of finding new grounds for integrating Russian society, as well as rethinking the course that has been pursued for thirty years.