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Russia’s Night Wolves, Migrating Memory and Europe’s Eastern Frontier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2021

Virág Molnár ,
Karolina Koziura  and
Franziska König-Paratore
Virág Molnár
Affiliation:
The New School for Social Research [molnarv@newschool.edu]
Karolina Koziura
Affiliation:
The New School for Social Research [kozik889@newschool.edu]
Franziska König-Paratore
Affiliation:
The New School for Social Research [koenf112@newschool.edu].
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Abstract

The article examines the controversy triggered by the “Victory Tour” of Russia’s high-profile biker organization, the Night Wolves, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. The tour provoked important questions about the relationship between European borders and the politics of World War II commemoration. The article argues that the international public discourse around the Night Wolves illuminates how state borders are being transformed both as hard, territorialized borders and as “soft,” symbolic boundaries. The analysis compares how print and online media in Russia, Poland, and Germany framed the Night Wolves’ tour across Europe. It emphasizes the construction of borders as a narrative project and maps the symbolic boundary-drawing strategies mobilized by various actors. It shows how cross-border commemorative tours can serve as a tool of transnational memory politics that shapes the very meaning and salience of state borders and regional divisions.

Résumé

Résumé

L’article examine la controverse déclenchée par le « Victory Tour » de la célèbre organisation de motards de Russie, les Night Wolves, pour marquer le soixante-dixième anniversaire de la défaite de l’Allemagne nazie contre l’Union soviétique. La tournée a suscité d’importantes questions sur la relation entre les frontières européennes et la politique de commémoration de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. L’article soutient que le discours public international autour des Night Wolves illustre la façon dont les frontières des États sont transformées à la fois en frontières dures et territorialisées et en frontières symboliques « douces ». L’analyse compare la manière dont les médias imprimés et en ligne en Russie, en Pologne et en Allemagne ont encadré la tournée des Night Wolves à travers l’Europe. Il met l’accent sur la construction des frontières comme projet narratif et cartographie les stratégies de tracé symbolique des frontières mobilisées par différents acteurs. Il montre comment les visites commémoratives transfrontalières peuvent servir d’outil de politique de la mémoire transnationale qui façonne la signification et la saillance mêmes des frontières étatiques et des divisions régionales.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Kontroverse, die die „Siegestour“ des russischen Biker-Clubs „Die Nachtwölfe“ zum siebzigsten Jahrestag des sowjetischen Siegs über Nazideutschland ausgelöst hat. Die Tour stellt das Verhältnis zwischen europäischen Grenzen und der Gedenkkultur zum Zweiten Weltkrieg in ein neues Licht. Die internationale öffentliche Debatte um die Nachtwölfe zeigt auf, wie Staatsgrenzen sowohl in harte, territorialisierte Grenzen als auch in „weiche“, symbolische Grenzen umgewandelt werden können. Die Untersuchung vergleicht die Darstellung der europäischen Nachtwölfe-Tour durch russische, polnische und deutsche Print- wie Online-Medien. Sie unterstreicht das narrative Projekt der Grenzkonstruktion und dokumentiert die Symbolik der Grenzziehungsstrategien verschiedener Akteure. Es wird aufgegezeigt, wie grenzüberschreitende Gedenkbesuche im Rahmen einer transnationalen Erinnerungspolitik instrumentalisiert werden können, die entscheidend die Bedeutung und die Wichtigkeit staatlicher Grenzen und regionaler Teilungen prägen.

Keywords

BordersMemory PoliticsTransnational memoryNationalismEastern EuropeFrontièresPolitique de la mémoireMémoire transationaleNationalismeEurope de l’EstGrenzenErinnerungspolitikTransnationale ErinnerungNationalismusOsteuropa
Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , April 2021 , pp. 71 - 103
Copyright
© European Journal of Sociology 2021

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