Soviet Memorial in Tiergarten

There are three large Soviet Memorials in Berlin: in Tiergarten, in Treptower Park and in Volkspark Schönholzer Heide. They were erected shortly after the end of the Second World War to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the Red Army. The monuments are important historical sites and places of remembrance, not least because of their monumental design.

The three large Soviet Memorials represent a special responsibility for Berlin. Grün Berlin's task is to maintain the ensembles of buildings and green spaces with due care and to develop them in a quality manner. This also includes maintaining the open spaces with dignity and coordinating and accompanying renovation measures on the buildings.

Grün Berlin GmbH also assumes these tasks for the Berlin senate department for the Soviet Memorial in Tiergarten. The oldest Soviet Memorial in Berlin is located near the Brandenburg Gate in the centre of the capital. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the Red Army ordered the construction of the 60,400-square-metre memorial. The memorial and the soldiers' cemetery were inaugurated on 11 November 1945. The design was by the sculptors Lev E. Kerbel and Vladimir E. Zigal and the architect Nikolai W. Sergiyevsky. The location was chosen deliberately: The memorial at Tiergarten was intended to interrupt the Victory Avenue planned by the National Socialists as a north-south axis – today's Straße des 17. Juni.

Two Soviet T 34 tanks stand in front of the main entrance on Straße des 17. Juni – representing those vehicles that were the first to reach the city during the march on Berlin in 1945. The centre of the complex is formed by a concave row of pillars. The central, larger pillar serves as a plinth for the eight-metre-high bronze statue of a Red Army soldier. In the rear, landscaped part of the memorial are the graves of more than 2,000 fallen Soviet soldiers.