Contemporary Reflection of World War II in the Atlases of Russia, Great Britain and France

The article explores how Russia’s short-sighted policy of insufficient funding for research and development, which has been implemented for several decades, has gradually led to the defeat of the Russian Federation in most “memory wars.” The chronic lack of funds for most domestic academic centers conducting socio-humanitarian research is also evident in the preparation and promotion of historical atlases that contain information about World War II. The American-British view of World War II in historical atlases was already established by the end of the 1980s and only changed in the 2010s. It was characterized by a generally objective approach to the coverage of events, but with an increased emphasis on the contributions of compatriots, which sometimes creates the illusion of downplaying the role of the Soviet Union. In cases where World War II receives limited attention in general historical atlases, the biases become more pronounced. It is only in recent years that an attempt has been made to exaggerate the influence of the USSR on the strengthening of Nazi Germany and its push to start a war against Poland. It is noteworthy that French historical atlases are more biased, as cartographers had to not only emphasize the contribution of their motherland, but also demonstrate France’s non-existent significant contribution to the defeat of Hitler’s Germany (of course, by downplaying the role of the USSR). It is concluded that if Russia demonstrates political will to defend the historical memory of the USSR’s contribution to the defeat of German Nazism, Japanese militarism, and their allies, then in addition to significant diplomatic steps, serious scientific cooperation with academics from other countries of the anti-Hitler coalition is required. This will be a large and challenging task, and in the case of publishing historical atlases, it will even require the skill of visualizing compromise solutions.

World War II, “memory wars”, historical atlases, publication language, promotion of Russian science abroad, funding of social sciences and humanities