Pre-defence seminar with Kim Frederichsen

Soviet Cultural Diplomacy towards Denmark during the Cold War, 1945-1991

External examiner: Associate Professor, Rosa Magnusdottir, Department of East European Studies, Aarhus

Abstract 

The aim of the dissertation is to study the activities conducted by the Soviet Union, various Soviet so-called public organizations, and Danish participants to promote the image of the USSR in Denmark through performing arts (theatre, cinema, ballet), musical arts (classical, jazz, popular), fine arts (painting, sculpture, poster art), print media (brochures, journals, magazines), mass media (Radio and TV broadcasts), the spoken word (lectures, conferences, seminars, speeches), sport (bilateral friendship matches, international championships, Olympic Games), and tourism (travelling as delegations, tourism, and congress/conference/festival participation) - all utilized for ideological purposes. 

The dissertation falls in three parts:

  1. How was it organized, financed, planned?
  2. What activities took place?
  3. Is it possible to determine any impact?

The first chapter presents the objects of the dissertation, defines key elements, formulates the research objectives, the applied method, and gives a short review of the source materials.

The second chapter presents the theoretical framework reviews the historiography, the main theories within the field, the key schools within Soviet and cold war studies, defines some key terms, and ends with the formulation of a theoretical synthesis defining the methodical framework for the empirical research.

The third chapter analyses the structures of the Soviet apparatus, the international and Danish organizations involved, how the system was organized, and how the decision making process took place both on a Soviet level and abroad as well as on an interconnected level between them. Furthermore, we will attempt to identify the various means of economic funding streaming from the USSR.

The fourth chapter zooms in on the actual activities. The practitioners of Soviet cultural diplomacy were very busy and it resulted in a flood of printed pages and manifestations of cultural productions in various forms. To be able to analyze them we will have to divide them into a number of groups depending on the practitioner; state executed cultural diplomacy (journals, newsletters, book series, and radio programs), activities of so-called NGO’s (both international front organizations and various Danish affiliations), and special emphasis will be placed on The Society for Cooperation between Denmark and the Soviet Union. Finally we will distinguish between mass and individually directed activities and give a few examples of the latter.

The fifth chapter strives to evaluate whether or not Soviet cultural diplomacy in all of its many forms and manifestations had an effect or impact on the Danish public sphere – that is if the Soviet Union somehow succeeded in utilizing culture to create a positive influence on the perceived image of the USSR by Danish publics.

The sixth and final chapter draws up the conclusions.

Kim Frederichsen