Sowjetisches Ehrenmal - Treptow

Oh well, just another monument, you might think. Think again, for the Soviet War Memorial in Treptow Park is the 'mother of all memorials', epic in proportion and gravitas. Incidentally, it is Mother Russia herself who greets visitors approaching the memorial from the northern end. Hewn in sandstone, she is shown grieving for the loss of her sons, 5000 of whom lie buried beneath the memorial grounds, killed in 1945 during World War II's final Soviet assault on Berlin. Behind the sculpture, a portal flanked by two kneeling soldiers was made from red granite scavenged from Hitler's New Reich Chancellery. It gives way to a vast 'cemetery' field overlooked by a 12m-high statue of a Soviet soldier standing over a broken swastika. The memorial opened in 1949 and is one of three Soviet war memorials in Berlin.