Victim-heroes in collective memory: Surviving soviet repressions heroically

Abstract

Memory narratives commonly include characters such as heroes (triumphant or fallen), martyrs, perpetrators, and victims. In recent years, the victim has become the central character in the dominant, western-centric, and globalized memory culture. A victim’s definition is problematic: few existing memory narratives include “ideal,” or innocent victims who suffered meaninglessly. The lines between victims and other characters in memory narratives are blurry in many cases, for instance, between a victim and a perpetrator. Using the case of Russian museums dedicated to the Soviet repressions, I study the problematic relation between victims and heroes, adding to the discussion of the victim character’s complexity. Often, victims of Soviet repressions are presented as both victims of political persecution and heroes who did not just suffer through their imprisonment but continued to live productive and creative lives. The resulting victim-hero character indicates that the category of a victim is too limiting and adds to calls for the theorization of victim taxonomy.

The autobiographical archive in post-communist Romania: “True” heroes and collective victimization

“…The Memorial portrays these victims as heroines who refused to betray their fathers, husbands, and brothers regardless of the punishment and suffering the regime would threaten them with. The “victim-hero” (Khlevnyuk, 2021) summarizes the narrative framework in which the documentary and afterward the general public structured Elisabeta Rizea’s life and her encounters with the communist regime. The victim-hero isa hybrid concept that indicates the complex relations between heroes and victims’ characters in memory narratives.…”

“…On the other hand, national ideas of greatness do not agree with the view of weak and passive victimhood. (Khlevnyuk, 2021: 2)…”

“…The victim-hero is cherished as a symbol of collective resistance. The victim-heroes are subjected to atrocities and they have “almost no agency to avoid their inevitable fate”; however, “unlike victims, victim-heroes claim their agency under persecution” (Khlevnyuk, 2021: 2).…”