The Tiergarten Soviet War Memorial
There are three Soviet War Memorials in Berlin, one in Treptower Park, another in Pankow, and this one in the Tiergarten, which is probably the most well-known of the three, and unveiled just two months after the fall of Berlin to the Soviet army in May 1945.
The Battle for Berlin cost 80,000 Soviet lives and over 2,000 of them are buried here at this large memorial not far from the Brandenburg Gate. Ironically, after the partition of the city into 4 zones, the monument fell inside the British sector.
All parties agreed to allow it to be guarded by two Soviet soldiers, which it did until 1993.
Built of marble (some say from the ruins of Hitler’s Reich Chancellery), it is topped by a bronze soldier and guarded by two Howitzer guns and two T34 tanks. Under the soldier is a Cyrillic inscription which translates as “Eternal glory to heroes who fell in battle with the German fascist invaders for the freedom and independence of the Soviet Union”.
The memorial has plenty of Russian visitors and each VE Day (Victory in Europe – 8th May) wreaths are laid to commemorate the occasion. It has to be said though that it’s not universally popular with the German population and has even been referred to as the “Tomb of the Unknown Rapist”.
Originally posted 2018-08-03 12:58:48.
Just as I was wondering how popular this was with the German people , you answered that question . . . .
No, they weren’t happy at all. So, how did the weekend go? I hope you had some decent weather.
Well Malc, it rained and then it rained some more… Seriously that was the Sat, the other two days were okay. But Sat went from light drizzle we will do this, to a torrential downpour we hope we don’t get killed doing this. . You forget how paths that are paths on the way up a mountain are rivers on the way down. Then there was the encounter with the bog, oh and the mist that came down like a visor . I think the fact that in our earleir days on hills we were gung ho came to our aid.
Well, like Meatloaf said ” two out of three aint bad”
The Soviet’s involvement in the taking of Berlin was not by accident. The Allies were happy for the Nazis and Soviets to fight it out, but of course the legacy was that we had to endure the Cold War as a consequence.
It’s not often that I hear about the efforts of the Soviets in WWII. Recently I’ve seen several movies and miniseries about the part that the Soviets played in that war. Thanks Malcom for this info.