The Battle for the Past. How Politics Changes History

History has long ceased to be the domain of just scholars, transforming into one of the most powerful tools in the battles of politicians. Destroyed monuments, rewritten textbooks, new street names - we have seen this more than once and, it seems, will not avoid it in the future. Different interpretations of world history have been put at the service of political managers, but at this moment they have collided with the will of the masses. Professor Ivan Kurilla from the European University in St. Petersburg demonstrates with specific examples how the past changes and who needs it; he also explains how our appeal to history and its new interpretation affect the foreign and domestic policies of different countries.