Родина-мать» в советском дискурсе Сталинградской битвы: Военная пропаганда и коммеморация

The article deals with the role of the Soviet Motherland image in the discourse of the battle of Stalingrad. The first part of the study dwells upon employing the maternal symbol of the country in the propaganda of the Great Patriotic war, including that of the battle of the Stalingrad. The author demonstrates that it was used in supporting positive collective identity, in war mobilization, and in creating the image of the enemy and concludes that it served as a factor of the Red Army victory in the battle. The second part focuses on exploiting the symbol (above all in the Volgograd monument “The Motherland calls!” version) in the battle commemoration in 1940-1960s. In analyzing the monument the author points out that this image follows the world and Russian traditions of visualizing the female allegories of nations. Victory, glory, life, freedom, peace, national gratitude to the fallen heroes and memories to them — that are the values the monument was called to embody.