FROM COLD WAR LEGACY TO FUTURE HERITAGE: A VALUE-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR MILITARY HERITAGE MANAGEMENT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35363/ViA.sts.2025.116Keywords:
post-war landscape, heritage sites, difficult heritage, heritage value, heritage governance Soviet legacyAbstract
Despite its social, educational, economic, and symbolic significance, military heritage (MH) remains an underexplored field in academic research. One important aspect of this heritage is the legacy of the Cold War, which — although often perceived as an ‘imaginary’ war — remains both nationally and globally relevant. Over the past decade, researchers from countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Taiwan, and the Nordic and Baltic States have increasingly focused their attention on the legacies of the Cold War. Their work has categorised this heritage, investigated strategies for its preservation or intentional neglect, and explored its potential for education and tourism.
In Latvia — formerly the westernmost border of the USSR — the legacy of the Cold War is particularly visible. The landscape encompasses a diverse range of sites, from popular tourist attractions to unattractive, degraded and abandoned locations. However, Latvia currently lacks clear national or local strategies to determine which of these sites should be preserved as heritage, especially given their broader transnational significance. Some sites have even undergone disinheritance during processes of national identity formation, reflecting a broader challenge of managing difficult heritage.
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