There are three Soviet War Memorials in Berlin; this review focuses on the memorial located in Treptower Park.
Anytime I visit a burial ground where the dead enshrined are those who fought for their country, I cannot help but feel small, humbled and awed at the cost of their sacrifice for the ideals they believed in. This hallowed ground is no different.
In this particular memorial, the numbers are not certain, but anywhere between 7,000-10,000 soldiers are buried under the shade of Sycamore trees that line the edges of this mall.
Entrance to the memorial, defined by two massive arches may be made from either Puschkinallee or Am Treptower Park.
At the entrance to the mall, a stone statue of "Mother Homeland" sits weeping for her sons.
From this statue flows a promenade flanked by weeping birches that then leads past two huge stylized flags sculpted of red granite into the main section of the grounds, the actual war cemetery.
Eight sarcophagi made of limestone blocks stand on each side of this central area and symbolize the 16 republics the Soviet Union consisted of at the time of the "Great Patriotic War" waged from 1941 to 1945.
At the far end of the memorial grounds is a conical hill, enshrining a tomb that also serves as the pedestal for the memorial's central figure, a Red Army soldier. The bronze sculpture of the Soviet soldier, holding a rescued child in his arm and a lowered sword over a shattered swastika, symbolizes the overthrow of National Socialism and the prospect of a peaceful future. read more