Sowjetisches Ehrenmal / Soviet Memorial - Brandenburg (Havel), Germany - World War II Memorials / Monuments on Waymarking.com

After Germany's surrender, Brandenburg became one of the largest Soviet garrisons in East Germany and Soviet authorities placed a large memorial for their fallen soldiers in the center of town.

The memorial is surrounded by the graves of 183 soviet soldiers and officers who died in the last days of the war.

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!