Representation of the History of the Great Patriotic War in Modern School Textbooks in Kazakhstan

Aim. To identify the features of the Great Patriotic War's representation in modern school history textbooks in Kazakhstan, determine the dynamics of historiographical approaches to the coverage of the 1941–1945 war period, and assess the degree of politicization of this topic in the context of the national educational policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Methodology. The study's empirical base was formed by three textbooks on the history of Kazakhstan recommended by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. A comprehensive approach was applied, including content analysis of texts using machine learning tools: lemmatization and text vectorization using the scikit-learn library, word cloud formation (WordCloud), and clustering of thematic lines. Additionally, quantitative analysis methods were used (counting the volume of text, the frequency of mentions of key events, personalities, and military formations) and qualitative analysis of narrative strategies.

Results. It has been established that the topic of the Great Patriotic War remains the least politicized in Kazakhstani textbooks compared to other periods of Soviet history. Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the volume of coverage and an enhancement of the biographical component. Stable trends have been identified: 1) chronological imbalance – the predominance of the defensive phase of the war (1941–1943) and insufficient coverage of the offensive operations of 1944–1945; 2) the preservation of the Soviet narrative without criticism of the Soviet leadership's actions during the war; 3) the geographical concentration of memory around Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad, with a limited representation of the Red Army's liberation mission in Europe; 4) an increase in the use of heroic and patriotic language, accompanied by a stronger emphasis on sacrifice. The presentation of the war period was confirmed to be in line with the all-Union canon, emphasizing the heroism of the Kazakh people as part of the unified Soviet nation.

Research implications. The research materials can be used by specialists in the field of school textbook historiography and by historiography course instructors in their preparation for classes.

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