The Research Project   “Memory–Wiki - on the Trails of Memory  of ‘Forgotten’ Victims of National-Socialism  in Ukraine, Russia and Germany”

Abstract. The overview provides information on a new research project on the memory of Soviet prisoners of the war and victims of Nazi occupation policies in Germany, Ukraine and Russia. The project is organized by the Berlin-based non-governmental organization KONTAKTE-Контакты. The new initiative of the organization is designed to draw public attention to former Soviet prisoners of the war, who, according to its leaders, remained “forgotten” in the culture of memory of the World War II in Germany and the post-Soviet countries. The project involves four groups of historical students from Russia, Ukraine and Germany. They explore the culture of memory of the cities where the camps for Soviet prisoners of war were located and which were occupied during the Second World War. The task of the researchers is to identify the places of former Soviet POW camps and to analyze the culture of memory (or lack thereof) of Soviet POWs in Bremen, Dnieper and Rostov-on-Don. As a result of the project, participants will prepare an interactive online platform with a map of camps for Soviet prisoners of war and places of mass killing of civilians during the Second World War. The review provides information on the progress of the project in 2018 and plans for 2019. The project is supported by the Memory, Responsibility, and Future Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and the Lindau Memory Foundation.

Keywords: historical memory, cultural memory, politics of memory, digital memory, Second World War, The Great Patriotic War, soviet prisoners of war.