Soviet War Memorial, War memorial in Tiergarten, Germany
The Soviet War Memorial centres on a stepped stone pylon topped by an eight-metre bronze statue of a Red Army soldier with a shouldered rifle, his left hand lowered in salute. A curved colonnade of eight square pillars with open gaps and carved panels flanks the pylon, and two T-34 tanks and two howitzers stand at the entrance. Names of fallen soldiers are carved on the pillars.
The memorial was designed by architect Nikolai Sergiyevsky with sculptors Lev Kerbel and Vladimir Tsigal, following a decision of the 1st Belorussian Front's war council, and inaugurated on 11 November 1945 with an Allied parade. It marks the end of that front's combat route from Küstrin via Seelow to Berlin. Between 2,000 and 2,500 fallen Red Army soldiers are buried in the grounds behind the pylon.
The memorial incorporates materials from the demolished Reich Chancellery, transforming remnants of Nazi power into a place honoring Soviet soldiers. Visitors walking through can notice these repurposed stones woven into the structure, creating a physical link between destruction and remembrance.
The memorial stands on the north side of Straße des 17. Juni, about 400 metres west of the Brandenburg Gate, with the Reichstag and the gate in view. Two T-34 tanks and two howitzers flank the main path, and two sarcophagi bearing officers' names stand left and right of it. A sign in English, German and Russian marks the graves of the fallen soldiers behind the colonnade.
Soviet military guards maintained a constant presence at this memorial during the Cold War, despite it being located in West Berlin's British sector. This unusual arrangement represented one of the oddest symbols of Berlin's division.
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