Soviet War Memorial (Schönholzer Heide)

The Soviet War Memorial in Schönholzer Heide (Sowjetisches Ehrenmal in der Schönholzer Heide) in Pankow, Berlin was erected in the period between May 1947 and November 1949 and covers an area of 30 000 m². The memorial contains the biggest Soviet cemetery in Berlin, which is also the biggest Russian cemetery in Europe outside of Russia.

Schönholzer Heide was a popular recreation area in the 19th century. During the Second World War the place was turned into a work camp. After the war the north-western part of the area was used to build the third largest Soviet war memorial in Berlin, together with the memorials in Treptower Park and Tiergarten.

A group of Soviet architects consisting of K. Solovyov, M. Belaventsev, V. Korolyov and the sculptor Ivan Pershudchev made the sketch for the cemetery, where 13,200 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers that had fallen during the battle of Berlin, should be buried. On a wall around the memorial there are 100 bronze tablets where the names, ranks and birth dates of the soldiers it was possible to identify, are written. This group constitutes about one fifth of the fallen soldiers.

On both side of the main axis, which at its end one finds a 33,5 meter tall obelisk made of syenite, there are placed 8 burial chambers where 1182 soldiers are buried. Under the Honor Hall inside the obelisk there are buried two Soviet colonels.

A statue of the Russian Mother Earth is situated in front of the obelisk and constitutes the main point of the memorial. On the statue's base, which is made out of black porphyry, one finds 42 bronze tablets on which the names of fallen officers are inscribed.

The main entrance.

Detail from the main entrance to the monument. The text reads: "To eternal memory of the heroes.

The obelisk seen through the main portal

Left side of the opening into the cemetery. The text reads: "Uncover your head! Here are Soviet soldiers, heroes from the great war 1941-1945, laid to eternal rest."

Right side of the portal. The text reads: "A grateful humanity never forgets their brave deeds."

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Wikipedia