“If you take the bread, I will beat you with a stick”. Social functions of narratives about looting Sergei
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2022-4-236-257
Abstract
Oryol region (Bryansk region nowadays) was occupied by the German army from August 1941 to October 1943. During this time some of the local people were forced to collaborate with the invaders. Despite the fact that nowadays this topic is a taboo, there are still a lot of stories of collaborationism and looting during the wartime that are often told in the former occupied territories. This article is based on materials collected in July-August 2020 during an expedition to the Novozybkovsky district of the Bryansk region. We noted that our interlocutors often call collaborators not only the real collaborators, but also the looters. In this article, we try to find out why residents of the former occupied territories still talk about collaborators and marauders. This fact might be explained by the social functions of such stories in a closed community. In a closed community looting is unacceptable as well as collaborationism in a public discourse. That makes local people use the name of collaborators as a label for any person who violates the rules of a social group.
Supporting agencies: The publication was prepared within the framework of the research work BLTP STEPS ION RANEPA “Folklore ideologies and behavioral strategies in a modern city”; The publication was prepared within the framework of the project “Jewish commemorative practices and the modern cult of Victory” of the Jewish Museum and Center for Tolerance. The authors of the article would like to thank Alexandra Arkhipova, Anna Kirzyuk, Maria Mayofis, Ilya Kukulin and Elena Levkievskaya for the valuable advice.
About the Authors
S. V. Belyanin
Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Sergei V. Belyanin, postgraduate student
bld. 82, Vernadskogo Av., Moscow, 119571
bld. 6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047
E. A. Zakrevskaya
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ekaterina A. Zakrevskaya, graduate student
bld. 6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047
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Review
For citations:
Belyanin S.V., Zakrevskaya E.A. “If you take the bread, I will beat you with a stick”. Social functions of narratives about looting Sergei. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2022;(4(2)):236-257. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2022-4-236-257
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