Memory culture of the Russian speakers aboard (case-study of commemoration practices in Germany in 1991-2020)

The object of research in this article is the cultural and historical memory of Russian speakers abroad. The subject of the study is the commemorative practices of the Russian–speaking population of Germany in 1991-2020. The number of Russian speakers in the country is estimated at 4-6 million people, which has led to their sufficient institutional activity: in all 16 federal states of Germany there are institutes of Russian culture, whose activities reflect various socio-cultural practices, including commemorative ones. They are dedicated to memorable dates in Russian history (with a special focus on Victory Day), holidays and anniversaries of Russian cultural figures. In this article, the practice of commemoration is considered based on the activities of several cultural institutions – the Mir Society for Cultural Exchange (Munich), the Russian-German Cultural Center in Nuremberg. These practices are investigated using the mosaic reconstruction method, which involves fixing specific events and reducing them to a common whole – in this case, a common cultural pattern. Auxiliary general scientific methods are involved – description and analysis, as well as observation (the author collected empirical material in Germany in 2016). It has been established that the commemorative practices conducted by these centers in the designated historical period correspond to the cultural pattern of "Soviet Russian-speaking culture", despite the extremely heterogeneous composition of the "Russian-speaking" group. It is demonstrated that over time, the cultural pattern undergoes changes due to the residence of Russian speakers in a foreign cultural environment, as well as a gradual change in the composition of the group. It is postulated that the main changes in the cultural pattern are related to the process of integration of Russian speakers into a new society, which presupposes the simultaneous preservation of the original culture and adherence to the values of the new cultural environment, as demonstrated by the example of Easter. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the features of the functioning and transformation of the cultural pattern "Soviet Russian-speaking culture" have been empirically demonstrated based on the activities of Russian-speaking institutions in Germany.