Christian Ganzer is a PhD student at Leipzig University, Germany. His publications include a monograph on the Museum of the History of the Zaporozhian Cossackdom in the Ukraine (ibidem-Verlag, 2005). As the chief-editor of a Belarusian-German collective he published an anthology of primary sources on the first four weeks of the German-Soviet war 1941-1945 in the Belarusian city of Brest: Brest: Leto 1941 g. Dokumenty. Materialy. Fotografii [Brest: Summer 1941. Documents, Materials, Photos] (with Irina Yelenskaya, Yelena Pashkovich et al. (eds.). Smolensk: Inbelkul't 2016. Second edition forthcomming in 2017).

Maria Senina is a historian at the Museum of the Political History of Russia in St. Petersburg. Her main academic interest is the history of Russia at the beginning of twentieth century

List of Illustrations

Preface: Project's History
Zuzanna Bogumil

Acknowledgements
Zuzanna Bogumil

Introduction: The Enemy on Display

Chapter 1. Temple of Heroic Community: Soviet people, Leningraders and German-Fascists in the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg
Chapter 2. Temple of Romantic Martyrdom: Poles, Germans and Jews in the Historical Museum of Warsaw
Chapter 3. Forum Revising National Myths: Second World War in the Dresden City Museum

Conclusions

Appendix: Museum descriptions: The Second War World and City History

Notes on Contributors

Eastern European museums represent traumatic events of World War II, such as the Siege of Leningrad, the Warsaw Uprisings, and the Bombardment of Dresden, in ways that depict the enemy in particular ways. This image results from the interweaving of historical representations, cultural stereotypes and beliefs, political discourses, and the dynamics of exhibition narratives. This book presents a useful methodology for examining museum images and provides a critical analysis of the role historical museums play in the contemporary world. As the catastrophes of World War II still exert an enormous influence on the national identities of Russians, Poles, and Germans, museum exhibits can thus play an important role in this process.