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The Myth of Malaia Zemlia

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The Myth of Malaia Zemlia The Myth of Malaia zemlia: Remembering World War II in Brezhnev's Hero-City, 1943-2013 Anne Victoria Davis Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University College London 1 Declaration I, Anne Victoria Davis, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract The 1943 battle to free the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk from German occupation during World War II was fought from the beach-head of Malaia zemlia, held for seven months by Soviet landing troops, including the young Leonid Brezhnev. The heroes of this campaign are commemorated through an amalgam of memoir, monuments and ritual, rendered particularly paradoxical by the discrepancy between the insignificance of the campaign at the time and the importance attributed to it retrospectively. Novorossiisk appears to have been honoured as a Hero-City due to myth alone, largely dependent upon Brezhnev’s political influence when leader of the Soviet Union. Using an interdisciplinary historical, cultural and sociological approach, this thesis establishes the mechanism and dynamics of the construction of the war myth in Novorossiisk under the Brezhnev government and its propagation today under the Putin régime. This research on the sociology of myth-making in an authoritarian political environment adds significantly to scholarship of the war cults prevalent in the late Soviet Union and contemporary post-Soviet Russia. Based on an analysis of agency, I demonstrate that, despite pervading state influence on remembrance of the war, there is still scope for the local community and even the individual in memory construction. This is a case study with wider political and social connotations, linking the individual citizens of Novorossiisk with evolving state policy since the war. Through the prism of this minor Hero-City, the complexity of myth and memory is revealed, as new evidence is brought to bear on a myth that most Russians consider dead, along with Brezhnev and the Soviet Union. This work demonstrates that the myth of Malaia zemlia is still relevant as much more than just local history for citizens of Novorossiisk today, remaining an integral part of its identity seventy years after the end of the war. 3 Notes on Translation and Transliteration All translations from the Russian have been done by the author, unless quoted from other sources in English. Transliteration is according to the Slavonic and East European Review system, based on a modified Library of Congress convention. 4 Preface On my very first morning in Novorossiisk in 1999 I was taken to the huge Malaia zemlia memorial complex on the shore of the Black Sea, where I heard the story of the 1943 landings. Over the years I gradually became familiar with other monuments around the town as my visits evolved from purely professional to social. My desire to understand the language and culture of the country prompted me to enrol for an undergraduate degree in Russian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. Developing a growing interest in Russian monumental remembrance, I started to explore the sociological aspects of commemorative rituals with the help of my Russian colleagues who had, over the years, become close friends. My epiphany moment came after a few glasses together at a vineyard in Myskhako, a small village just outside Novorossiisk known for its robust red wine. We were touring the wine-making premises when I found myself in an old wine-cellar that had, apparently, been used by Colonel Leonid Brezhnev during the war. Until that moment I had been confident that I understood the Malaia zemlia campaign enough to appreciate the significance of the many monuments in the town, but this discovery nine years after my first visit was totally unexpected. After all, Brezhnev was one of the few Soviet politicians known to people in the West, so why did I not know about Brezhnev's involvement with the war here, despite my known interest in the town's past? And if I had not been told, perhaps there was a deeper reason why he remained a hidden secret in the history of the Hero-City. Here, tucked away under the former Soviet collective vineyard on the outskirts of Novorossiisk, I discovered a ready-made research project for the Master's programme I was following, which stimulated my academic interest so much that it has been impossible to put aside. 5 Over the last seven years my journey of intellectual curiosity has evolved from how society remembers the war to the political history of why war memory is so prevalent in Novorossiisk, resulting in a quest to explore the impact of their local history on the population today. Throughout this academic journey I have been aided by a wonderful, ever-expanding network of friends who have housed and fed me, guided me to outlying places, rescued me from libraries, introduced me to key people and provided premises for meetings and interviews. They even brought valuable resource materials to England, crammed into suitcases already full of Russian chocolates (for stamina) and caviar (for inspiration). I am delighted to acknowledge the generous friendship of Anna Danilova, Irina Nikitina, El'vina Settarova, Sergei Krasnolobov and Irina Rashkovetskaia (and her family), without whose unstinting help this work would not have come to fruition. I would like to thank my supervisors over the years for their support and advice: Kristin Roth-Ey, Polly Jones and Sarah Young; and all those who have kindly read and commented constructively on my work. Finally I am deeply grateful to my family for living this project with me for longer than we all care to remember. 6 Contents Abstract 3 Notes on Translation and Transliteration 4 Preface 5 List of illustrations 8 Chapter 1 - Introduction: What is a war myth and who owns it? 10 Chapter 2 - War correspondence and memoirs: 52 The construction of the war myth through literature Chapter 3 - Leonid Brezhnev: Local legend or national statesman? 122 Chapter 4 - Respect for the dead: Ritual and monumental 185 remembrance Chapter 5 - The mnemonic socialization of the young through 251 formal and informal education Conclusions: Looking back to the future 308 Appendix A - Some comments about Novorossiisk 317 Appendix B - Notes on Sources and Methodology 320 Appendix C - List of Interviewees 328 Appendix D - Interview questions and documentation 334 Select Bibliography 338 7 List of Illustrations Map of the Novorossiisk area of the Krasnodar Region 9 Map of the Novorossiisk landings, 4th February 1943 11 Heroes' Square, Novorossiisk 125 Brezhnev's wine-cellar bunker in Myskhako 129 The spot in Myskhako where Brezhnev planted a tree in 1974 130 The 'Calendar' monument in Myskhako 130 'Malaia zemlia' by Aleksandr Kamper 137 The Water-giver 147 The Brezhnev statue, Novorossiisk 155 The re-located Brezhnev statue 167 Brezhnev's four 'Hero of the Soviet Union' stars restored 172 'Land for sale: Malaia zemlia' by Aleksandr Kamper 175 Monument to the Unknown Sailor, Novorossiisk 198 'Beskozyrka' at the Eternal Flame on Heroes' Square 201 Re-enactment of the landings (1) 203 The beskozyrka bearer lays the hat and wreath in the sea 204 Re-enactment of the landings (2) 209 The Malaia zemlia memorial (1) 224 Motor torpedo boat monument 226 The 'Explosion' monument 228 'Sailor with the grenade' monument 229 Monument to The Unvanquished 239 Monument to Vladimir Kokkinaki 244 Prime Minister Putin, 2010 279 Hierarchical diagram of agencies 305 The Malaia zemlia memorial (2) 312 8 Map of the Novorossiisk Area of the Krasnodar Region 9 Chapter 1 Introduction: What is a war myth and who owns it? Вот трубы медные гремят, Кружится праздничный парад, За рядом ряд, за рядом ряд Идут в строю солдаты. Не в силах радость превозмочь, Поет жена, смеется дочь, И только мать уходит прочь... "Куда же ты, куда ты?.." Ведь боль и смерть и пушек гром - Все это будет лишь потом. Чего ж печалиться о том, А, может, обойдется? Ведь нынче музыка тебе, Трубач играет на трубе, Мундштук трясется на губе, Трясется он, трясется.1 1.1 Scope of the thesis In the wintry early hours of 4th February 1943 a modest fleet of small craft escorted by two motor torpedo boats approached the shore of Tsemes Bay under cover of darkness and a thick smoke-screen. Before daybreak 630 Red Army marine infantry troops led by Major Tsezar' Kunikov had landed on the beach at Stanichka just outside the occupied Soviet Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.2 The Soviet Union had entered the Second World War, which it called the Great Patriotic War, in June 1941, suffering a series of humiliating losses for much of the first year as German forces pushed eastwards into Ukraine and then Russia. The strategic port of Novorossiisk (pre-war population 109,000) was occupied by German and 1 Bulat Okudzhava, 'Voennyi parad', in Proza i poeziia, Frankfurt: Posev, 1984, p. 149. 'Brass trumpets are ringing out, /The ceremonial parade is wheeling round, /Rank upon rank, rank upon rank /Soldiers march in formation. /No pleasure is permitted in the forces, /A woman is singing, a daughter laughing / And only a mother walks away... /"But where are you, where have you gone?.." //Pain and death and the thunder of guns - /All this will come later. /What have we to grieve about, /Maybe we'll just make do? / But now the music is for you, /The trumpeter is playing his trumpet, /The mouthpiece is trembling at his lips, /He is trembling, trembling.' 2 See T. I. Iurina, Novorossiiskoe protivostoianie: 1942-1943 gg., Krasnodar: Kniga, 2008, p.
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