Representations of the Upheavals in 1917 Russia in Exhibitions and Textbooks

Representations of the Upheavals in 1917 Russia in Exhibitions and Textbooks

Exhibitions and museums, similar to history teaching materials, show a narrative aimed toward a lay audience. Since necessity forces them to fill a limited space with choices from a broad base of research, they show the historical developments of a society at a certain point in time that have received a place in the functional memory (Aleida Assmann).¹

This presentation’s objective is the examination of the narrative that was constructed in relation to the changes in the power relationships in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century and on which central sources this was based. Here we can assume that based on space limitations and the need for simplified terminology, many of the scientific examinations often do not make an appropriate differentiation between “revolution” and “putsch,” even though conceptual clarity represents a central requirement of some of the competency models anchored in school curriculums.

Museums in Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and
Hungary were examined. This comparison has the aim of exploring the extent to which the
perception of Stefan Troebst’s dividing lines of cultural history² are perceived in Europe after 1989. The examination of two countries, Austria and Germany, show the difference between museum representations and the narratives in textbooks.

1. Assmann, Aleida: Funktions- und Speichergedächtnis. Zwei Modi der Erinnerung, in: Platt, Kristin/Dabag, Mihran (Hrsg.): Generation und Gedächtnis. Erinnerungen und kollektive Identitäten, herausgegeben unter Mitwirkung von Susanne Heil, Opladen 1995, S. 169–185.
2. Troebst, Stefan: Postkommunistische Erinnerungskulturen im östlichen Europa. Bestandsaufnahme, Kategorisierung, Periodisierung, Wrocław 2005, S. 7.