Jegor Zaika

Motherland

It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.

Karl Marx

‘What does the Motherland begin with?’ are the first words of a song known by every Soviet schoolchild. Today Wikipedia replies: the ‘Motherland is the place of one’s birth’. I was clearing the mezzanine in my parents’ Moscow house, where I was born and raised, and kept finding objects imbued with special meaning for me: a box of East German Christmas tree decorations, an electric samovar, silver spoons with engraved dedications from relatives. At a time of mass production and chronic shortages in Soviet stores, these objects rarely differed from similar relics accumulated by the families of my peers. But despite the external resemblance, they trigger unique memories for every one of us. Strangely intertwined, these recollections create our collective understanding of the Motherland.