World War II Narratives as Historical Politics in the Cold War

• In Event: Memory of WWII in the U.S.-Russia Cold War Discourse: Ideology vs History

Abstract

In the war’s final months, Allied narratives celebrated a shared victory of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany. With the onset of the Cold War, these narratives fractured, transforming World War II into a symbolic arena of historical politics. In the U.S., the Soviet Union was recast as a strategic rival, while Soviet propaganda portrayed the U.S. as an imperialist aggressor. Each side erased the other from the story of victory, turning collective memory into a tool of ideological competition: in the West, the war was won almost solely by the Anglo-Americans, while in the USSR, it was depicted as a solitary Soviet triumph. Periods of détente briefly revived the idea of shared victory—John F. Kennedy’s 1963 American University speech being a prime example—while renewed tensions brought renewed erasure. These shifting narratives demonstrate how World War II memory operated as a symbolic language of historical politics, shaping and reflecting the cycles of conflict and reconciliation throughout the Cold War.

Author

• Ivan I. Kurilla, Ohio State U