Legacy of the Great Victory: How to Tell the True Story of the Great Patriotic War?

16:10 — 17:30 (May 21)
New Treryakov Kadashi
Plenary Hall

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Presentation

Memory of the Great Victory remains a cornerstone of cultural and national identity across the post-Soviet times. In an era of increasing historical revisionism, museums have become guardians of the war’s truth. They unite documentary evidence, eyewitness accounts, and authentic artifacts to preserve the memory of wartime heroism and sacrifice for future generations.

Creating exhibitions about the Great Patriotic War demands a multilayered emotional narrative — one that reconstructs historical events not through dry dates and reports but through genuine experiences of real people: frontline soldiers and home-front workers alike.

Today, museums share this war-time history with audiences who’ve heard little from those who lived through it. Their mission is to offer visitors a profound personal connection to one of the nation’s defining historical chapters.

• Exhibition storytelling: What techniques make historical events resonate as personal experiences?
• Beyond disembodied statistics: How does the history of the Great Patriotic War shape national cultural identity?
• Global remembrance: Which current initiatives preserve worldwide awareness of WWII’s Allied victory?

Speakers:
Olga Galaktionova, Director, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
Aleksey Dementyev, Director, Stalingrad Battle Museum-Preserve
Alexander Korkotadze, Director, Brest Hero-Fortress Memorial Complex (Belarus)
Irina Sedova, Curator of the “1,418 Days: Marking 80 Years to Victory” exhibition, State Tretyakov Gallery
Mikhail Smorodkin, Director, Sevastopol Heroic Défense Museum-Preserve
Ekaterina Teveleva, Director General, Grata Production
Anna Yalova, Curator, Director, Manezh Central Exhibition Hall
Oleg Kalinin, Advisor, International Research Centre for World War II (Slovenia)