23.04.2025
RSUH hosted the International Forum "The Great Patriotic War 1941–1945: History, Sources, Historiography. On the 80th Anniversary of Victory". The event was organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia together with RSUH, supported by the Russian Historical Society. The key topic was the preservation of the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War and its protection from falsifications in the context of the information war.
The Forum opened with a plenary session featuring Olga Pavlenko, RSUH Vice-Rector for Research, Ruslan Gagkuev, Chairman of the RHS Board, Natalia Narochnitskaya, President of the Foundation for Historical Perspective Studies, and Gajić Aleksandar Miloš, Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia.
Olga Pavlenko welcomed participants on behalf of Rector Loginov, noting that the Forum not only reminded the public of Soviet citizens’ heroism during the Great Patriotic War but also helped understand the motivations behind their sacrifices and struggle against fascism.
Gajić Aleksandar Miloš emphasized the deep historical ties between Russia and Serbia, strengthened through shared trials, particularly during WWII.
Ruslan Gagkuev stressed the importance of archival documents to prevent distortions of WWII history.
Natalia Narochnitskaya reminded participants about the ongoing fight against falsifications of WWII facts and meanings.
A vivid example was presented – a unique collection of archival documents on the final stages of WWII, compiled by Elena Senyavskaya, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Russian History of the RAS. These documents, recently declassified, refute the Western myth of alleged atrocities by the Red Army in liberated Germany, showing that German civilians often saw Soviet soldiers as protectors against looting and violence. The collection contains some recently declassified documents from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Military Archive, the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the State Archive of Socio-Political History (93 in total). Such collections not only hold academic value but also serve as tools for political counteraction against anti-Russian propaganda and historical falsification campaigns. These documents can be used in the political practice of conducting modern information and psychological warfare and to counteract anti-Russian propaganda, myth-making and falsification of history, which have been carried out by foreign politicians and the media in order to distort and deny the role of the USSR in the Victory over fascism in World War II.
