Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T12:24:18.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unruly actors: Latvian women of the Red Army in post-war historical memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Daina Eglitis  and
Vita Zelče
Daina Eglitis
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA, Email: [email protected]
Vita Zelče
Affiliation:
Department of Communications Studies, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This work highlights the case of Latvian women volunteers of the Red Army who worked and fought on the eastern fronts of World War II. An estimated 70,000–85,000 Latvians served in the Red Army, some as conscripts, others as volunteers. At least several hundred of those who volunteered were women. How are Latvian women volunteers of the Red Army represented and remembered in Soviet and post-Soviet historical accounts of World War II? Why have they not been remembered in most historical accounts of this period? How are ethnicity, gender, and associated social roles implicated in their historical marginality? These questions are situated in the context of literature on collective memory and microsociological literature on social roles, and used to develop the analytical concept of the unruly actor – historical actors who are challenges to dominant memory narratives because they fail to conform to normative social roles ascribed on the basis of, among others, gender and ethnicity. We use the case of Latvian women volunteers to articulate the argument that the marginality of some groups in dominant historical narratives can be understood in terms of their disruption of the historical “scene”, which is configured to reflect a desired social order.

Keywords

LatviagenderWorld War IIhistorical narrativessocial roles
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 41 , Issue 6 , November 2013 , pp. 987 - 1007
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Avēkse, Jūlija. 1960. “Müsu Zenta. Zenta Ozola.” In Tie, kurus neaizmirst, edited by Spura, Inese, 86–93. Riga: Latvijas Valsts izdevniecība.Google Scholar
Bleiere, Daina, Butulis, Ilgvars, Feldmanis, Inesis, Stranga, Aivars, and Zunda, Antonijs. 2006. History of Latvia: The 20th Century. Riga: Jumava.Google Scholar
Bleiere, Daina, Butulis, Ilgvars, Feldmanis, Inesis, Stranga, Aivars, and Zunda, Antonijs. 2008. Latvija Otrajā pasaules karā (1939–1945). Riga: Jumava.Google Scholar
Briežkalns, Igors. 2009. No Narofominskas līdz Imulai. Riga: Union of Latvian Riflemen.Google Scholar
Brüggemann, Karsten, and Kasekamp, Andres. 2008. “The Politics of History and the War of Monuments in Estonia.” Nationalities Papers 36 (3): 425–448.Google Scholar
Buholcs, Jānis. 2003. “1940. gadā notikušās valsts iekārtas pārveides Latvijā vēstures interpretācijas maiņa (1988–1989).” Domino 1: 195–215.Google Scholar
Burke, Peter. 1992. History and Social Theory. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, D'Ann. 1993. “Women in Combat: The World War II Experience in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union.” Journal of Military History 57 (2): 301–323.Google Scholar
Chuikina, Sofia. 2002. “'Byt neotdelim ot politiki': Ofitsial'nye i neofitsial'nye normy ‘polovoi’ morali v sovetskom obshchestve 1930–1980-x godov.” In V poiskah seksual'nosti, edited by Zdravomyslova, Elena and Temkina, Anna, 99–127. St. Petersburg: Dmitrii Bulanin.Google Scholar
Conze, Suzanne, and Fieseler, Beate. 2000. “Soviet Women as Comrades-in-Arms: A Blind Spot in the History of the War.” In The People's War: Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union, edited by Thurston, Robert W. and Bonwetsch, Bernd, 211–234. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Corney, Frederick C. 2004. Telling October: Memory and the Making of the Bolshevik Revolution. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Cottam, Jean. 1983. Soviet Airwomen in Combat in World War II. Manhattan, KS: Military Affairs/Aerospace Historian Publishing.Google Scholar
Eglīte, Daina, Zelče, Vita, and Zellis, Kaspars. 2012. “130. latviešu strēlnieku korpusa kolektīvās biogrāfijas mets.” In Vera Kacena. Kājāmgājējs karā, edited by Zelče, Vita and Zellis, Kaspars, 575–614. Riga: Mansards.Google Scholar
Eglitis, Daina S. 2002. Imagining the Nation: History, Modernity, and Revolution in Latvia. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Eiduss, Zālamans. 1973. “Tikšanās ar Zentu.” Jautājumi un Atbildes 22 (November): 7–9.Google Scholar
Fieseler, Beate. 2002. “Der Krieg der Frauen: Die ungeschriebene Geschichte. Zhenshchinyi na voine: nenapisannaya istoriya.” In Mascha + Nina + Katjuscha. Frauen in der Roten Armee, 1941–1945. Zhenshchinyi-voennosluzhashchie, edited by Jahn, Peter, 11–20. Berlin-Karlshorst: Deutsch-Russisches Museum.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Grigulis, Arvīds. 1945. Caur uguni un ūdeni. Riga: VAPP.Google Scholar
Grods, Arvis, ed. 1985. Mūsu gadi, mūsu ceļi Uzvaras četrdesmitgades grāmata. Riga: Liesma.Google Scholar
Halbwachs, Maurice. 1992. On Collective Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Higgonet, Margaret Randolph, Jenson, Jane, Michel, Sonya, and Collins Weitz, Margaret, eds. 1987. Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Eric, and Ranger, Terence, eds. 1983. The Invention of Tradition. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jahn, Peter, ed. 2002. Mascha + Nina + Katjuscha. Frauen in der Roten Armee, 1941–1945. Zhenshchinyi-voennosluzhashchie. Berlin-Karlshorst: Deutsch-Russisches Museum.Google Scholar
Kacena, Vera. 1951. “Skarbais pavasaris.” Uzvaras ceļos. Apraksti un tēlojumi, edited by Kalpiņš, Voldemārs, 126–144. Riga: Latvijas Valsts izdevniecība.Google Scholar
Kacena, Vera. 2012. Kājāmgājējs karā, edited by Zelče, Vita and Zellis, Kaspars. Riga: Mansards.Google Scholar
Kacena, Vera. 2013. Balle beidzās pusnaktī, edited by Zelče, Vita and Zellis, Kaspars. Riga: Mansards.Google Scholar
Kļava, Inese. 1958. “Kauju ugunīs rūdījusies frontes biedru draudziba neizzūd.” Par atgriešanos Dzimtenē 2 (February): 1–2.Google Scholar
Krylova, Anna. 2010. Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kūlis, Ēriks. 1985. “Tāds gājums (Anna Januška).” In Nenovelkot karavīra šineli, edited by Spura, Inese, 47–59. Riga: Avots.Google Scholar
Lācis, Vilis. 1947–48. Vētra, nr. 3. Riga: Latvijas Valsts izdevniecība.Google Scholar
Lašuka, Anna, and Spura, Inese, eds. 1964. Ja saullēktam tici. Riga: Latvijas Valsts izdevniecība.Google Scholar
Latvian National Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women. 1995. National Report on the Situation of Women. Riga: Latvian Women Studies and Information Center.Google Scholar
Lazda, Mara. 2006. “Family, Gender, and Ideology in World War II Latvia.” In Gender and War in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe, edited by Wingfield, Nancy M. and Bucur, Maria, 133–154. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Lehti, Marko, Jutila, Matii, and Jokisipila, Markku. 2008. “Never-Ending Second World War: Public Performances of National Dignity and the Drama of the Bronze Soldiers.” Journal of Baltic Studies 39 (4): 393–418.Google Scholar
Levi-Strauss, Claude. 1979. Myth and Meaning. New York: Schocken.Google Scholar
Lowenthal, David. 1985. The Past Is a Foreign Country. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lumans, Valdis. 2006. Latvia in World War II. New York: Fordham University Press.Google Scholar
Marwick, Roger D. 2008. “'A Sacred Duty': Red Army Women Veterans Remembering the Great Fatherland War, 1941–1945.” Australian Journal of Politics and History 54 (3): 403–420.Google Scholar
Marwick, Roger D., and Sharon Cardona, Euridice. 2012. Women on the Frontline in the Second World War. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Meimane, Ineta. 2012. “Ellīgā kundzīte. Intervija ar Evu Ievu Vateri.” Santa 11 (November): 44–48.Google Scholar
Merridale, Catherine. 2006. Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939–1945. New York: Picador.Google Scholar
Misztal, Barbara A. 2003. Theories of Social Remembering. Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Murmantseva, Vera S. 1971. Zhenshchinyi v soldatskih shinelyah. Moscow: Voenizdat.Google Scholar
Murmantseva, Vera S. 1979. Sovetskie zhenshchiny v Velikoi Otechestvennoi voine 1941–1945. Moscow: Mysl'.Google Scholar
Neiburgs, Uldis, and Zelce, Vita, eds. 2011. (Divas) puses. Latviešu kara stāsti. Otrais pasaules kars karaviru dienasgrāmatās. Riga: Mansards.Google Scholar
Nikonova, Olga. 2005. “Zhenshchinyi, voina i ‘figuryi umolchaniya'.” In Pamyat’ o voine 60 let spustya. Rossiya, Germaniya, Evropa, edited by Gabovich, Michael, 563–576. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie.Google Scholar
Nollendorfs, Valters, and Oberlander, Erwin, eds. 2005. The Hidden and Forbidden History of Latvia under Soviet and Nazi Occupations, 1940–1991: Selected Research of the Commission of the Historians of Latvia. Riga: Institute of History of Latvia.Google Scholar
Ochman, Ewa. 2009. “Municipalities and the Search for the Local Past: Fragmented Memory of the Red Army in Upper Silesia.” East European Politics and Societies 23 (3): 392–420.Google Scholar
Olick, Jeffrey. 2003. “Introduction.” In States of Memory: Continuities, Conflicts, and Transformations in National Retrospection, edited by Olick, Jeffrey, 1–16. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Pabriks, Atis, and Purs, Aldis. 2001. Latvia: The Challenges of Change. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pennington, Reina. 1997. “Offensive Women: Women in Combat in the Red Army.” In Time to Kill: The Soldier's Experience of War in the West, 1939–1945, edited by Addison, Paul and Calder, Angus, 249–262. London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
Pennington, Reina. 2000. “'Do Not Speak of the Services You Rendered': Women Veterans of Aviation in the Soviet Union.” In A Soldier and A Woman: Sexual Integration in the Military, edited by DeGroot, Gerard J. and Peniston-Bird, Corinna, 152–174. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Pennington, Reina. 2001. Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Riekstiņş, Jānis. 2009. Represijas pret latviešiem PSRS. 1937–1938. Dokumenti. Riga: Latvijas Valsts arhīvs.Google Scholar
Rozentāls, Mārtiņš, ed. 1975. Cīņu biedri. Dokumentāli apraksti par Lielā Tēvijas kara dalībniekiem. Riga: Liesma.Google Scholar
Rukšāns, Hugo. 1985. “Biogrāfija (Velta Šakale).” In Nenovelkot karavīra šineli, edited by Spura, Inese, 147–166. Riga: Avots.Google Scholar
Rukšāns, Hugo, and Auns-Urālietis, Arvīds. 1996. Vēstules no bērnības zemes. 2nd ed. Riga: Latvijas zinību biedrība.Google Scholar
Sāre, Margarita. 1960. “Ir jādzīvo! Monika Meikšāne.” In Tie kurus neaizmirst, edited by Spura, Inese, 78–84. Riga: Latvijas Valsts izdevniecība.Google Scholar
Savchenko, Vasilii I. 1975. Latyshskie formirovaniya Sovetskoi armii na frontah Velikoi Otechestvennoi voinyi. Riga: Zinātne.Google Scholar
Scott, Joan Wallach. 1999. Gender and the Politics of History. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Sokolova, Ingrīda. 1973. Mana trilogija. Riga: Liesma.Google Scholar
Sokolova, Ingrīda. 1977. Vienas paaudzes biogrāfija. Riga: Zvaigzne.Google Scholar
Spare, Velta. 1962. Zilā roze: Piebalgas stāstu cikls. Riga: Latvijas Valsts izdevniecība.Google Scholar
Spāre, Velta. 1968. Tirleānas meitenes. Riga: Liesma.Google Scholar
Spura, Inese, ed. 1985. Nenovelkot karavīra šineli. Riga: Avots.Google Scholar
Strautmane, Gunta. 1975. “Četreiz noziedēja ievas (Inese Spura).” Cīņu biedri, edited by Rozentāls, Mārtiņš, 131–146. Riga: Liesma.Google Scholar
Tabuns, Aivars, ed. 2001. National, State, and Regime Identity in Latvia. Riga: Baltic Study Centre.Google Scholar
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 1995. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Tumarkin, Nina. 1994. The Living and the Dead: The Rise and Fall of the Cult of World War II in Russia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Ūdre, Aurora, ed. 1975. Vēstules no frontes: Padomju Armijas latviešu vienību karavīru vestules Lielā Tēvijas kara laikā. Riga: Zinātne.Google Scholar
Ūdre, Aurora, ed. 1982. Tēvijas kara impresijas. Riga: Zinātne.Google Scholar
Vanags, Jūlijs, ed. 1944. Gvardes ceļš. Latviešu strēlnieku divīzija Tēvijas kara frontēs. Moscow: Latvijas PSR Grāmatu apgāds.Google Scholar
Vārpa, Igors. 2006. Latviešu karavīrs zem Krievijas impērijas, Padomju Krievijas un PSRS karogiem. Riga: Nordik.Google Scholar
Vater, Eva. 1998. Evreiskie zhenschiny i devushki Latvii na frontah bor'by s natsizmom. Tel Aviv: Tirosh.Google Scholar
Veikins, Jānis. 1965. “201. Latviesu strelnieku divīzijas izveidosana.” In Reiz cēlās strēlnieks sarkanais. Atminu un dokumentu krājums par latviešu tautas brunoto cīņu pret fašistiskajiem iebrucējiem, edited by Raskevics, Alfreds, 102–118. Riga: Liesma.Google Scholar
Youngblood, Denise J. 2007. Russian War Films. On the Cinema Front, 1914–2005. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Zagars, Eriks. 1978. Socialist Transformation in Latvia, 1940–1941. Riga: Zinātne, 1978.Google Scholar
Zelce, Vita. 2009. “History - Responsibility - Memory: Latvia's Case.” In Latvia. Human Development Report 2008/2009. Accountability and Responsibility, edited by Rozenvalds, Juris and Ijabs, Ivars, 44–57. Riga: LU ASPRI.Google Scholar
Zellis, Kaspars, ed. 2007. Sieviete Latvijas vēsturē. Riga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds.Google Scholar
Zīle, Monika. 1985. “Tie gadi, savrup no visa (Ļubova Taice).” In Nenovelkot karavīra šineli, edited by Spura, Inese, 96–108. Riga: Avots.Google Scholar
Žvinklis, Arturs. 2005. “Latvijas iedzīvotāji Sarkanajā armijā (1940. gada septembris-1944. gada jünijs).” Latvijas Vestures Institūta Žurnāls 4: 77–105.Google Scholar