The topic of the “Great Patriotic War” still calls for a new approach. This is partly due to the fact that Central and Eastern European historians’ perception even now lacks an inclusive and integrated approach to this historical process. The overall picture should include not only military history, but also political issues and the social face of the conflict. So far, there has been no broad compilation of the perspectives of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Czechs and Slovaks, Hungarians and Romanians, and finally the North Caucasus nations and Tatars. Meanwhile, treating the region as a political, economic, and military system requires not only paying careful attention to each of these areas and its local conditions separately, but also considering their mutual connections. What is decisive here is to analyse these issues taking into account the cultural and political integrity of the communities living in the region, their aspirations, and identity. Adopting an imperial interpretation of the history of the war, whether from the Soviet or German point of view – naturally resulting from the nature of the conflict described – simultaneously degrades all cultural, national, religious, and political communities to the role of objects of the historical game, and makes of their attributes, aspirations, and internal structure merely functions of an imperial interpretation of modernity. Removing national perspectives from the study of history not only reduces the cognitive value of the research – it also legitimises the totalitarian nature of Germany’s and the Soviet Union’s plans towards Central Europe. However, undertaking integrated studies requires outlining a detailed scope of problems. Drawing attention to the consequences – primarily political – of the German-Soviet war of 1941–1945, which affected Central Europe, lays the foundation for most of the possible studies on the history of the second half of the 20th century in the region. It is also necessary to look at the micro and medium scale: political, military, and security decisions made in Moscow since 1938 have influenced not only the existence of entire states and communities but also the lives of millions of individuals. A number of questions that constantly arise in the background of research on the history of World War II in Central and Eastern Europe concern not only the facts but also how the events were interpreted, misinterpreted, falsified, and silenced.

This issue consists of essays and case studies devoted to the history of the Soviet Union’s participation in World War II, topics that have been intentionally underrepresented in Soviet and communist historiography and often misinterpreted by propaganda.