Putin, der Cliotherapeut. Überdosis an Geschichte und politisierte Erinnerungskonflikte in Osteuropa

This article discusses attempts to legitimise real political goals through historical reinterpretations or to divert attention from political crises, using the example of Russian President Putin’s historical policy. After briefly outlining the origins of civil society as well as the commercialisation and institutionalisation of historical interest in the post-Soviet countries, the article analyses the examples of the Russian-Estonian monument dispute as well as a dispute over the interpretation of the Second World War between Russia, Ukraine and Lithuania. The historical-political situation in Eastern Europe is characterised as a “battlefield of memories”.