The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park is war memorial and military cemetery commemorating 5,000 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin in April - May 1945. It was designed by Soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky and opend four years after Word War II (May 8th, 1949). The memorial served as the central war memorial in East Germany and is one of three Soviet memorials built in Berlin after the end of the war.
The focus of the ensemble is a 12-m tall statue of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a child, standing over a broken swastika. Allegedly the statue commemorates the deeds of Nikolai Masalov, who during the final storm in the center of Berlin risked his life under German machine-gun fire, to rescue a three-years-old German girl.
Before the monoument is a central area lined in both sides by 16 stone sarcophagi, one for each of 16 Soviet Republics with relief of military scenes and quotations of J. Stalin in Russian and German. The area is final resting place for 5000 soldiers of Red Army.
At the opposite end of the central area is a portal build of red granite, consisting of a pair of stylized Soviet flags and flanked by two statues of kneeling soldiers.
Beyond the portal is another figure of a Motherland weeping at the loss of her sons.
Source: Wikipedia
Photos: JustJammin' © 2014
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