The Soviet War Memorial (german: Sowjetisches Kriegerdenkmal) is a
war memorial and military
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
's
Treptower Park. It was built to the design of the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
architect
Yakov Belopolsky to commemorate 7,000 of the 80,000
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
soldiers who fell in the
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
After the Vistula– ...
in April–May 1945. It opened four years after the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in Europe, on May 8, 1949. The Memorial served as the central war memorial of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
.
The monument is one of three Soviet memorials built in Berlin after the end of the war. The other two memorials are the
Tiergarten memorial, built in 1945 in the
Tiergarten district of what later became
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
, and the
Schönholzer Heide Memorial in Berlin's
Pankow district.
Together with the ''
Rear-front Memorial'' in
Magnitogorsk and ''
The Motherland Calls
''The Motherland Calls'' ( rus, Родина-мать зовёт!, Rodina-mat' zovyot!, t=Homeland-Mother Is Calling!) is the compositional centre of the monument-ensemble "Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, R ...
'' in
Volgograd, the monument is a part of a
triptych.
History
At the conclusion of World War II, three Soviet war memorials were built in the city of Berlin to commemorate Soviet deaths in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, especially the 80,000 that died during the
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
After the Vistula– ...
. The memorials are not only commemorative, but also serve as cemeteries for those killed.
A competition was announced shortly after the end of the war for the design of the park. The competition attracted 33 entries, with the eventual design a hybrid of the submissions of the architect
Jakow S. Belopolski, sculptor
Yevgeny Vuchetich, painter
Alexander A. Gorpenko and engineer
Sarra S. Walerius. The sculptures, reliefs, and 2.5 meter diameter flame bowls were cast at the
Lauchhammer ''Kunstgießerei'' (Art Foundry) in 1948. The memorial itself was built in Treptower Park on land previously occupied by a sports field. The memorial was completed in 1949.
It was rumoured that the remains of the
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared ...
had been used for the construction of the memorial, but this was not the case.
For over three years, some 1200 workers, 200 stone masons, and 90 sculptors worked on the complex.
Around the time of the fall of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...
, unknown persons vandalized parts of the memorial with anti-Soviet
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
. The Spartacist party (
de) claimed that the vandals were right-wing extremists and arranged a demonstration on January 3, 1990, which the
PDS supported; 250,000 GDR citizens participated. Through the demonstrations, the newly formed party stayed true to the communist roots of its founding party, and attempted to gain political influence.
The
International Communist League spoke to the crowd. Them noting that "for the first time in 60 years, Trotskyists addressed a mass audience in a workers state. Participants and those listening on radio and TV heard two counterposed programs: that of the Stalinist
SED, and that of the Trotskyist ICL". PDS chairman
Gregor Gysi
Gregor Florian Gysi (; born 16 January 1948) is a German attorney, former president of the Party of the European Left and a prominent politician of The Left (''Die Linke'') political party.
He belonged to the reformist wing of the governing So ...
took this opportunity to call for a ''Verfassungsschutz'' ("Constitution Protection") for the GDR, and questioned whether the ''Amt für Nationale Sicherheit'' (Department of National Security, the successor of the
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state autho ...
) should be reorganized or phased out. Historian
Stefan Wolle
Stefan Wolle (born 22 October 1950) is a German historian. A focus of his socio-historical research is on the German Democratic Republic, German Democratic Republic (East Germany) which is where, before German reunification, reunification, he l ...
believes that Stasi officers may have been behind the vandalism, since they feared for their jobs.
As part of the
Two Plus Four Agreement, Germany agreed to assume maintenance and repair responsibility for all war memorials in the country, including the Soviet memorial in Treptower Park. However, as part of the agreement, Germany must consult
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
before making any changes to the memorial.
Since 1995, an annual vigil has taken place at the memorial on May 9, organized by (among others) the ''Bund der Antifaschisten Treptow e.V.'' ("Anti-fascist Coalition of Treptow"). The motto of the event is the "Day of Freedom", corresponding to
Victory Day, a Russian holiday and the final surrender of German soldiers at the end of World War II.
In 2003-4, the memorial underwent a thorough renovation. The main statue was removed and sent by boat to a workshop on the island of
Rügen
Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
for refurbishment, at a cost of approximately €1.5million. On May 4, 2004, ahead of
"Day of Liberation" celebrations on the 8th, the statue was returned to its position in the park, having been cleaned using water jets and glass beads, a patina restored and protective wax coating applied, had 2200 screws replaced, and an additional stainless steel structure added.
Layout
The focus of the ensemble is a monument by Soviet sculptor
Yevgeny Vuchetich: a 12-m tall bronze statue of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a German child, standing over a broken
swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. I ...
. According to
Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov, the Vuchetich statue commemorates the deeds of Sergeant of Guards , who during the final storm on the center of Berlin risked his life under heavy German machine-gun fire to rescue a three-year-old German girl whose mother had apparently disappeared.
Before the monument is a central area lined on both sides by 16 stone
sarcophagi, one for each of the then 16
Soviet Republics[Between 1940–56 (up to the reorganization of the ]Karelo-Finnish SSR
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR; fi, ; rus, Каре́ло-Фи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelo-Finskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...
into the Karelian ASSR) there were 16 union republics with relief carvings of military scenes and quotations from
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
, on one side in
Russian, on the other side the same text in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
: "Now all recognize that the Soviet people with their selfless fight saved the civilization of Europe from fascist thugs. This was a great achievement of the Soviet people to the history of mankind". The area is the final resting place for some 5000 soldiers of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
.
At the opposite end of the central area from the statue is a portal consisting of a pair of stylized
Soviet flags built of red granite. These are flanked by two statues of kneeling soldiers. Beyond the flag monuments is a further sculpture, along the axis formed by the soldier monument, the main area, and the flags, is another figure, of the Motherland weeping at the loss of her sons.
In literature
The Soviet War Memorial is described in detail in
M.M. Kaye's novel ''
Death in Berlin'', written in 1955 and based on Kaye's first-hand impression of the then freshly inaugurated monument. The protagonists - British officers stationed in Berlin and their wives and families - are far from well disposed towards the Soviets, but are still greatly impressed with what they see: "Below each flag, and at the top of the steps, was a statue of a kneeling Russian soldier, his bared head bent in homage statues, steps and the towering expanse of red marble dwarfing the stream of sightseers to pygmy proportions." One of Kaye's British characters makes the prediction - since then disproven by events - that the Soviet monument would be demolished "five minutes after the Russians move out of East Germany, whenever that is". He then adds that such a demolition would be a great pity, since the monument was "the equal of Karnak, Luxor and the Acropolis".
Commemorations
Rallies and ceremonies are held on the memorial by local Berliners. On 31 August 1994, a memorial ceremony was attended by
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
and
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
.
[ In 2019, Russia's ambassador to Germany, a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of Berlin and the head of the German People’s Union for the Care of War Graves all took part in the a ceremony marking the occasion of the centenary of the German War Graves Commission. Participants laid flowers at the monument to honour the memory of Soviet soldiers.
]
Criticism
This monument has earned some unflattering nicknames, such as the "Tomb of the Unknown Rapist", from the local population with references to mass rapes committed by Soviet occupation troops.
In addition, the funds spent on restoring the statue in 2003–2004 attracted criticism, being contrasted with the lack of restitution paid to those who were transported to the USSR during the war.
See also
*Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (german: Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas), also known as the Holocaust Memorial (German: ''Holocaust-Mahnmal''), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by arc ...
Notes
References
*
External links
Satellite photo of the Memorial
- centered on the statue of a Soviet soldier holding a German girl
*
{{Authority control
1949 in Germany
Buildings and structures in Treptow-Köpenick
Buildings and structures of East Berlin
Monuments and memorials in Berlin
Outdoor sculptures in Berlin
Sculptures of men in Germany
Soviet military memorials and cemeteries in Germany
Statues in Germany
Vandalized works of art