The Single Veteran Badge for Two Wars. Appropriation of the “Great Patriotic War” Commemoration Heritage in the Context of the Ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War

Abstract

The study, focused on the case of the official badge “War Veteran” introduced in 1994, aims to reveal the process of symbolic appropriation of the legacy of the “Great Patriotic War” for commemorating the contemporary Russo-Ukrainian war.

Methods. The paper is written at the intersection of history and social anthropology and belongs to the field of memory studies. Based on the concept of sites of memory proposed by Pierre Nora, the article demonstrates how their perception can change when they appear to be unchanged or only partially modified. The article traces the development of the Ukrainian system of war veterans’ awards in the context of the memory politics of the Second World War, with a focus on awards design. To analyze the awards’ design and their textual descriptions in official acts, elements of visual analysis and discourse analysis were used. The sources of the study, in addition to the phaleristics artifacts themselves, include legislative acts and documentation of the Ukrainian state authorities related to the commemorative awards and reports of Ukrainian news agencies that documented the situation around the “Motherland” monument.

Results. Introduced in 1994, the “War Veteran” badge, intended for all persons with the official status of “participant in combat operations,” had the Soviet “Motherland” monument as its central design element, visually referring to the tradition of commemorating World War II and its veterans. Since 2014, this badge has been handed also to the War in Donbas participants, and since 2022 – to participants of the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war. However, its design has not been changed. Instead, the object used as the central element of its design was redefined, and the Soviet Motherland monument actually became one of the visual symbols of Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression. The symbolic appropriation was reinforced by physical changes to the monument itself, replacing the Soviet coat of arms with the Ukrainian one. Thus, the interpretation of the veteran’s badge is also changing, as the image on it is no longer perceived as irrelevant when received by contemporary combatants.

Conclusions. The case of the “War Veteran” badge shows us the possibility and ways of “appropriation” of the commemorative legacy of the Great Patriotic War in the course of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.