Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten) - Berlin, Germany
N 52° 30.995 E 013° 22.320
33U E 389531 N 5819742
This Soviet War Memorial is one of several war memorials in Berlin, Germany, erected by the Soviet Union to commemorate its war dead, particularly the 80,000 soldiers of the Soviet Military who died during the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945.
Waymark Code: WMFNY0
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date Posted: 11/10/2012
Views: 58
"This war memorial was built to honour the Soviet soldiers that fell in the battles against the German army in the Second World War. It was located at the 17 June Street very close to the German parliament - the Reichstag - in what would soon become West-Germany which meant that it was beyond everyday reach for the Soviet Army. To be able to visit the memorial it was agreed that Red Army troops had free passage to the memorial on certain days of remembrance. Around the time in the early 1960ies when the Berlin Wall was erected the presence of Soviet troops on the streets of Berlin awoke much anger among the West-Berliners and Soviet military veichles was on many occassions bombarded with stones from angry protestors.
The memorial is constructed as an arch with a bronze soldier on top pf it. The design actually resembles the Brandenburger Gate which is located only 100 metres away.
The inscription on the side of the memorial reads:
ETERNAL GLORY TO HEROES WHO FELL IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE GERMAN FASCIST INVADERS FOR THE FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE SOVIET UNION" (
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"Built in a style similar to other Soviet World War II monuments once found all over the former Eastern bloc, the memorial takes the form of a curved stoa topped by a large statue of a Soviet soldier. It is set in landscaped gardens and flanked by two Red Army ML-20 152mm gun-howitzer artillery pieces and two T-34 tanks. Behind the memorial is an outdoor museum showing photographs of the memorial's construction and giving a guide to other memorials in the Berlin area. A large Cyrillic inscription is written underneath the soldier statue, which is translated as "Eternal glory to heroes who fell in battle with the German fascist invaders for the freedom and independence of the Soviet Union". The Soviets built the statue with the soldier's arm in a position to symbolize the Red Army's putting down of the German National Socialist state.
The memorial was designed by architect Mikhail Gorvits with the monument of the Soviet soldier by sculptors Vladimir Tsigal and Lev Kerbel." (
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