This lesson analyses the iconic image of Soviet soldiers raising the Red Banner over the Reichstag in Berlin on 2 May 1945. It explores how photographs and historical relics influence public perception by claiming to represent decisive moments of the past. The lesson also offers an in-depth insight into memory politics in Stalinist Georgia.
The way historical figures and events are remembered often reveals more about the political intentions of those in power than about the actual past. In the Soviet Union – so also in Georgia under Stalin – memory was not left to chance. Through visual propaganda, film, and symbolic figures, the regime carefully shaped how people remembered war, leadership, and national identity.
Introduction
These exercises allow students to critically analyze how collective memory is constructed through state-controlled narratives. Using Soviet-era newspaper articles, propaganda images, and film scenes, students learn to uncover ideological motives behind historical representations and reflect on how these continue to influence memory and identity today.
In this lesson, students acquire the following skills:
Historical expertise/knowledge:
- Understanding the role of figures like Stalin, Meliton Kantaria, and Ivan IV in Soviet-era historical narratives
- Knowledge about Soviet and Stalinist propaganda techniques and their impact on memory culture
- Insight into how Georgian and Russian history were rewritten under authoritarian rule
Methodological and reflective skills:
- Analyzing historical images, texts, and film as sources of manipulated memory
- Identifying ideological messages and understanding the function of propaganda
- Comparing different representations of the same historical moments
Narrative skills:
- Developing interpretations of historical media and visual sources
- Articulating critical viewpoints on how power and memory intersect
Orientation competence:
- Recognizing the long-term impact of Soviet memory politics in today’s political debates
- Understanding how historical narratives can be used to legitimize political ideologies
- Reflecting on the relevance of critical historical thinking in the face of manipulated memory
Exercise 1: Making the Soviet Memory (Difficulty 2/5)
In the first exercise, the students engage with a historical presentation and selected excerpts from Soviet newspaper articles that portray the Red Army invasion of Georgia and the figure of Meliton Kantaria in highly ideological terms. Through the analysis of these sources, they identify key metaphors and emotional language designed to glorify Soviet actions and create a simplified narrative of liberation and loyalty. The aim is to show how propaganda constructs collective memory and how this memory continues to shape national identity discourses in Georgia today.
Exercise 2: Turning National Symbols into Soviet Tools – the Cult of Stalin (Difficulty 3/5)
The second exercise focuses on a Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) discussion around several paintings. In this exercise, students will analyze Soviet propaganda images that falsely link Stalin to Georgian national figures and events, in order to understand how visual media was used to shape historical memory and build the cult of Stalin. Students develop their critical thinking by questioning the intentions behind such images and the broader consequences for historical understanding.
Exercise 3: Film as Propaganda: Messages from Ivan to Stalin’s Time (Difficulty 3/5)
In the third exercise, the students analyze a central scene from Sergei Eisenstein’s film Ivan the Terrible, produced under Stalin’s rule. The scene in which the tsar’s messengers deliver a public decree serves as a symbolic moment to explore how leadership and justice are presented through image, sound, and emotion. The film becomes a lens through which students can compare the real Ivan IV with Stalin’s self-image and discuss how history is reinterpreted to support authoritarian narratives. This exercise encourages them to think about the connections between past and present political messaging and to reflect on the enduring power of historical memory shaped through culture.
