Ebook: The Politics of Football in Yugoslavia: Sport, Nationalism and the State

Part 1 -- What is a war myth and who owns it? 1. What is a war myth? 2. Who owns a war myth? Part 2 -- The construction of the myth through war correspondence and literature 3. The construction of the myth through war correspondence 4. The construction of the myth through early memoir literature 5. The construction of the official myth through Brezhnev's memoir 6. Beyond Brezhnev's memoir and Brezhnevism Part 3 -- Leonid Brezhnev: Local legend or national statesman? 7. Brezhnev comes to town 8. The Godfather 9. A man walking through the town: The making of a modern legend 10. The state comes to town again Part 4 -- Respect for the dead: Ritual and monumental remembrance 11. The Beskozyrka ritual 12. Town of two hundred monuments 13. The place of the dead within collective memory Part 5 -- Mnemonic socialization of the young through formal and informal education 14. Genes and generations: Informal transmission of memory in the family 15. The educational role of veterans 16. Formal education of the younger generation Conclusion -- Looking back to the future.;The 1943 battle to free the Soviet Black Sea port of Novorossiisk from German occupation was fought from the beach head of Malaia zemlia, where the young Colonel Leonid Brezhnev saw action. Despite widespread scepticism of the state's appropriation and inflation of this historical event, the heroes of the campaign are still commemorated in Novorossiisk today by an amalgam of memoir, monuments and ritual. Through the prism of this provincial Russian town, Vicky Davis sheds light on the character of Brezhnev as perceived by his people, and on the process of memory for the ordinary Russian citizen. Davis analyses the construction and propagation of the local war myth to link the individual citizens of Novorossiisk with evolving state policy since World War II and examines the resultant social and political connotations. Her compelling new interdisciplinary evidence reveals the complexity of myth and memory, challenging existing assumptions to show that there is still scope for the local community - and even the individual - in memory construction in an authoritarian environment. This book represents a much-needed departure from the study of myth and memory in larger cities of the former Soviet Union, adding nuance to the existing portrait of Brezhnev and demonstrating the continued importance of war memory in Russia today.--