Published as: Qualls, Karl D. Who Makes Local Memories?: The Case of Sevastopol after World War II. Soviet and Post-Soviet Review 38, no. 2 (2011): 130-148. https://brill.com/search?q1=Who+Makes+Local+Memories%3F%3A+The+Case+of+Sevastopol+after+World+War+II This author pre-print is made available on Dickinson Scholar with the permission of the publisher. For more information on the published version, visit Brill's Website.

Sevastopol, since becoming a part of independent Ukraine in 1991 (and part of the Ukrainian SSR for decades before) has consistently and overwhelmingly voted for pro-Russian candidates in each national election. While many political commentators have noted the demographics of predominately Russian speakers and the presence of the Russian fleet in the ports to explain recent voting patterns, we must also take note of postwar myth creation. Although since 1917 Sevastopol has been juridically Soviet or Ukrainian, residents and outsiders alike usually view Sevastopol as a Russian city. The development of local identification after World War II by the military, local officials, and guidebook authors helps to explain how Sevastopol so easily shed its identification with the Soviet Union while also avoiding identification with Ukraine.