Specific Uses of the Great Patriotic War Thesaurus in Russian Military Bloggers Telegram Channels

This article explores the transformation in the discourse of historical memory surrounding the Great Patriotic War in contemporary digital environments with a particular focus on Telegram channels operated by Russian military bloggers. In present-day Russia, the memory of the Great Patriotic War serves not only as a foundational component for national identity but also as a powerful tool for emotional unification and political legitimation. As hybrid warfare and information turbulence intensify, Telegram channels have become key sites where war symbolism is recontextualized and actively employed to frame current events especially those related to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The study draws on semantic and contextual analysis of a corpus comprising over 110,000 messages posted between February 24, 2022, and March 31, 2025. A thesaurus of 91 key lexemes related to World War II was used to identify linguistic patterns and rhetorical strategies. Findings feature a high prevalence of terms such as “Nazi,” “Soviet,” and “USSR” employed not merely to evoke the past but as instruments of ideological polarization, moral condemnation, and emotional mobilization. These lexical items structure narratives to demarcate friend from foe, sacralize collective action, and legitimize present-day political decisions. The analysis reveals that Telegram channels contribute to the production of politicized historical memory by embedding war-related symbols and references into the contemporary information flows. Digital memory in this context is non-linear, affect-driven and closely linked to performative modes of communication, turning historical references into strategic rhetorical tools. The study contributes to broader debates on digital memorialization, political communication, and the instrumentalization of the past in times of conflict.