The Victory of the image: identification risks of commemorative practices

The article considers commemorative practices of the Victory in World War II and analyses their possible consequences. Intensive commemoration of the Victory supposed creation of a large number of monuments and memorials with a certain image of the winner nation, strong and undefeated, the creator and peacemaker. First of all, monuments were supposed to elate the sense of pride for the Motherland but not the sense of grief. Surveys show that Russians today also consider this image as an etalon. The images of the Victory that go beyond the scope of such representation cause repel. Thus, today Victory does not represent itself a demonstration of the communicative or cultural memory, but is stated as the foundation of the civil identity.