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Friday, 20 July 2012

The Soviet War Memorial in Berlin

I got the chance to visit this on a stop at the Brandenburg Gate.  It was built in 1945 with rubble from the nearby Reichstag and commemorates 2000 Soviet dead in the Battle for Berlin.  It ended up being in the British sector but still had a ceremonial guard of Soviet troops throughout the cold war.

I found it quite impressive.  The centrepiece  is a large statue of a Soviet soldier set atop a semicircular set of arches The area in front has two 152mm gun-howitzer artillery pieces and two T34 tanks on plinths

I am glad that this has been well maintained by the unified city authorities as the temptation must have been to take it down or at least let it crumble away – West Berliners were not over fond of the monument I understand.

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  1. Simon25 July 2012 at 21:09

    Berlin's a lovely city, I went there about 7 years ago now but it's certainly one of my favourite places. The two T-34s are reputedly the first Soviet tanks to reach the Reichstag but my German ran out shortly after that! I also went to the Soviet war memorial in Tallinn a few years before and that's truly awesome but the Estonians, possibly understandably, have their objections and have covered it in less than flattering graffiti.

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