Preserving the Memory of World War II: The Issue of the Correlation of International and National Legal Regulation

The article analyzes the mechanisms of preserving the memory of the Second World War based on the national legislation of various countries, the norms of international law and the activities of international organizations. The purpose of the article is to identify trends existing at the international and national levels in the legal regulation of the preservation of the memory of the World War II and to identify the possibilities of their “synchronization” to prevent new international conflicts. The article uses a chronological method to chart the emergence of new trends in legal regulation governing the preservation of memory of World War II over the past few decades. A formal-legal analysis examined UN General Assembly and European Union resolutions, and national regulatory acts, concerning the various aspects of commemoration of 1939—1945 tragedies. Utilizing a descriptive method facilitated the identification of key research areas within the field of “memorial” legal regulation. The diachronic approach within the framework of the comparative-legal method was used to identify the evolution of those main aspects of preserving the memory of World War II, which are reflected at the international legal level, as well as in national legal systems, and the synchronous one made it possible to identify the general and distinctive features in the positions of different states. As a result of the research, various practices of using legal instruments to preserve the memory of the 1939—1945 events are systematized and the conclusion is formulated that the international legal regulation of the preservation of the memory of the World War II lags behind the memorial legislation of different countries, which is one of the factors in the development of “wars of memory”. At the same time, common ground has been identified that can help overcome negative trends.