Soviet and German stereotypes of military behavior of fighter pilots

With reference to a vast amount of Soviet / Russian and German egodocuments, the author studies the sociocultural and national stereotypes of military behavior of fighter pilots in World War II. Examining broader aspects of fighter pilots’ subcultural psychology and using the methods of content analysis of memoirs, the author analyzes the main means of changing stereotypes in terms of mutual perceptions of former enemies. The latter did not only depend on the logic of uncompromising military confrontation and the clichés of propaganda but also on the mental code required of participants of the war, in which they were to comply with traditional behavioural ideals of valor and heroism

German · Memoir · Perception · Political science · Sociocultural evolution · World War II · History · Law · Military History and Strategy · Psychology · Social Psychology