Soviet War Memorial on Straße des 17. Juni
Why is it significant?
In front of you a bronze soldier stands on top of a curved stone colonnade, rifle slung over his shoulder, arm stretched out as if to hold back everything behind him. At either end, raised on plinths, sit two real tanks and two heavy guns from the Second World War.
Key Facts
| Place | Soviet War Memorial on Straße des 17. Juni |
|---|---|
| Address | Straße des 17. Juni, 10557 Berlin, Germany |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.51670, 13.37190 |
| Part of Walk | Glass Dome and Golden Angel: Berlin's Reichstag, Tiergarten & Victory Column |
| Generated | Generated |
In front of you a bronze soldier stands on top of a curved stone colonnade, rifle slung over his shoulder, arm stretched out as if to hold back everything behind him. At either end, raised on plinths, sit two real tanks and two heavy guns from the Second World War. Behind the colonnade, under the grass and the trees, lie the graves of around two thousand Soviet soldiers.
This memorial was unveiled in November 1945, only months after the end of the war, while Berlin was still a field of ruins. The Battle of Berlin cost the Red Army tens of thousands of lives in a few weeks of fighting, and these men were among them. Berliners have long told the story that the red marble was taken from the wrecked Reich Chancellery of Hitler. It is a legend that historians treat with some caution, but it shows how people read this place: the victors building their monument out of the defeated regime.
Then the city was divided, and something absurd happened. The memorial ended up in the British sector of West Berlin. So for more than forty years Soviet soldiers stood guard here every day, inside the West, and British military police stood guard around the Soviet guards. In 1970 a young West Berlin neo-Nazi shot and wounded one of the sentries, and the protection was tightened even further.
Now look along the wide avenue. Straße des 17. Juni is named after the 17th of June 1953, when workers in East Berlin and across East Germany rose up against the communist government and were crushed by Soviet tanks. A memorial to Soviet soldiers on a street named after a revolt crushed by Soviet soldiers... Berlin does not do simple. The avenue itself was widened in 1939 as part of the Nazi east-west axis, ready for a parade on Hitler's fiftieth birthday.
Cross the avenue carefully and head north through the park, on the path towards the river Spree. Ahead of you, beyond a wide lawn, a huge white building with round windows is waiting... the Berliners have a rude nickname for it.