Remembering the Fallen

© 2017 Snapping the Globe, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Several Soviet Memorials are located in Berlin, erected to commemorate its fallen soldiers.

As we drove through the city, on the way to our hotel, we passed one of the memorials, the Tiergarten.

A colleague of mine, of Russian descent, was very excited to see that the monument was not far from some of the other landmarks we had planned to visit later that day.  Having been to Berlin a few times before, I was actually surprised to see that it was located just down the road from the Brandenburg Gate.  Maybe I had seen it and did not realized its significance or maybe I was asleep during the bus tour, but I was excited that I would be able to visit something new and share it with someone that it meant something to.

After our visit to the Brandenburg Gate, we headed west on Strasse des 17 Juni (17 June Street) and found ourselves at the entrance of the memorial which is located in the Großer Tiergarten, a large public park and a place where Adolf Hitler had plans to build Welthauptstadt Germania.  Impressively flanked by two Red Army ML-20 152mm gun-howitzer artillery pieces and two T-34 tanks, the notable monument, a curved stoa, is topped by a towering statue of a Soviet soldier, whose arm is in a position to symbolize the Red Army’s putting down of the Nazi German state.  A Cyrillic inscription under the soldier translates into “Eternal glory to heroes who fell in battle with the German fascist invaders for the freedom and independence of the Soviet Union”.

My friend, reading as we walked, explained that the monument was erected to commemorate the 80,000 soldiers of the Soviet Armed Forces who died during the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945.  It was constructed  in 1945, within a few months of the capture of the city, and built from stonework taken from the destroyed Reich Chancellery.

As we walked to the rear of the property, we discovered an outdoor museum which highlighted the memorial’s construction and offered a look into the city’s other memorials.

Though the memorial has special meaning to those such as my friend and the many who make pilgrimages from various Soviet countries, there are those, however, who still oppose the monument.  The structure has suffered at the hands of vandals and has earned some harsh nicknames, such as “Tomb of the Unknown Rapist” which references one of the various crimes committed by the Soviet occupation troops.

The Tiergarten was a surprise for me.  Not one of the major attractions of Berlin, I had not planned to include it in my day, however, I was excited to learn more through my visit with my Russian friend.

As we walked the property, admiring the tanks, a bunny hopped out from the bushes.  A short while later, a fox surprised us as he emerged from the same bushes.  Was the fox searching for the bunny?  Though the fatalities of the war ended many years ago, this was a reminder of how things once were…when there were those who were pursued and killed…

Though there are two other Soviet memorials in Berlin, commemorating the fallen, Treptower Park and Schonholzer Heide, make sure to check out the oldest and most conveniently located…Tiergarten.

For more pictures, check out Facebook, Snapping the Globe and Instagram, @snappingtheglobe.

 

Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten)

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply