On December 2, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation hosted a discussion "How to tell the young generation about the USSR?"
Dr. Irina Velikanova, Chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on the Development of Culture and Preservation of Spiritual Heritage, General Director of the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, set the tone for the discussion, noting that now was the best time to discuss the main topic of the event, that is, how to tell the youth about the Soviet era?
Fundamental to the discussion was the question of the principles of teaching the history of the USSR to schoolchildren and students. Experts believe that today it is important not only to interest young people, but also to take into account the peculiarities of thinking of the younger generation.
Dr. Elena Barysheva, Dean of the Faculty of History of RSUH, believes that the history of everyday life is the most suitable direction for studying the life of the country during the Soviet period. Despite the fact that most of the surviving documents of the era, from museum exhibits to personal diaries, were created under the influence of communist ideology, it is necessary to develop critical thinking and understanding of the context in schoolchildren and students. Elena Vladimirovna also spoke on the Digital Memory project, which shows an approach to the presentation of materials relevant for the digital age.
Summing up the results of the meeting, Dr. Irina Velikanova emphasized that the preservation of historical memory, the formation of a respectful and interested attitude among young people to the past of their country, was the most important task faced by the entire Russian society today.
RSUH was represented by Dr. Elena Barysheva, Dean of the Faculty of History, Chair of the Department of History and Theory of Historical Science, Dr. Pavel Alipov, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs of the Faculty of History, Dr. Vladimir Beklyamishev, Senior Lecturer of the Center "New Russia. History of Post-Soviet Russia” and Dr. Alexander Levchenkov, Deputy Head of the Department of the CIS Countries.
