Persistence and Transformation of Cultural Trauma: Commemoration of Soviet Deportations in the Media of Post-Soviet Latvia (1987-2010)

An essential part of the political strategy of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was the extermination of social groups that he regarded as the enemies of the people: owners of the capital and land, counterrevolutionaries, and opponents of Soviet ideology and collectivisation. Thus on June 14th 1941 and March 25th 1949 the population of Latvia diminished by 60 thousand people overnight. Soviet authorities labelled them as dangerous for socialism and deported them to various destinations in Siberia with no hope of return. Memories of them were unspeakable in the public sphere until perestroika, but since then it has become as principal a source of cultural trauma for Latvians as September 11th is for Americans and the Holocaust is for Jews. During the decline of the Soviet Union, the commemoration of Soviet crimes became an important social practice in Latvia and elsewhere in post-communist societies. A crucial role in this process was played by Latvian mass media: since perestroika the media have been forming the public discourse of the commemoration and thereby also of the trauma of the deportations. By analysing the content of the most read national and local newspapers Latvia issued in the last 23 years, this extensive study offers an overview of the creation and transformation of mediated trauma.