The memorial was designed by a Red Army major, whose name got lost in history. We only know, that he was a professor at the Art Academy in Kiev, before he followed the call to defend his country.
It consists of a 40 feet tall obelisk and four large bronze figures, depicting two infantry soldiers, a fighter pilot and a tank soldier.
Until 1990, the memorial and the cemetery were maintained by Soviet troops stationed in Brandenburg; since the German reunification, German volunteers take care of the grave sites. In 2003, the city of Brandenburg (Havel) invested a quarter million Euros in the maintenance of the monument. There is a strong peace message in people taking care of the graves of their former enemies!
|