When we moved to Berlin in 2012, we knew nothing about soviet memorials. Nothing at all. And I believe this lack of knowledge made us even more curious about everything and anything Soviet.
The first time I was around the Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park was less than six months after moving to Berlin. I remember that I was bored back home, and I decided to walk from our house close to Rathaus Neukölln to the Spree River, and that is how I managed to find Treptower Park.
Once I was there, I remember seeing the weird lines of trees, and that was it. It was a rainy evening, and the place was empty, making everything look even more epic. A few hours later, I was back home, talking to Marcela and showing her all the pictures of this newfound place.
After that first visit, I lost count of how many times I went there. But I know I enjoyed every time I was there, mainly in the winter when it looked even more epic, as seen in the pictures here.
I took these pictures when we visited the Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park in December 2014; the snow was falling, and I knew I had to take some pictures.
A little bit of history from the Soviet Memorial
The Berlin Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park is the largest of the three war memorials the USSR left in Berlin after the end of the Second World War. The others are the one at Tiergarten and the one at Schönholzer Heide.
It was built to the design of the soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky as a memorial for 5,000 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin between April and May 1945. So, once you are there, think about the soldiers that were buried there and fought against Nazi Germany back then.
When you arrive at the Berlin Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park, it is hard to avoid looking at the vast, twelve-meter-high statue at the central point. The statue represents a Soviet soldier armed with a sword and crashing a swastika while he holds a child in his arms.
It is supposed to look epic, and it sure does. The first time I was there, I even compared it to Mr Bison in Street Fighter, but I don’t believe this comparison makes sense to anybody else but me.
This sculpture was created by the same architect who designed the memorial Yakov Belopolsky, and it shows the deeds of Sargent Nikolai Masalov, who decided to risk his life during the Battle of Berlin to save the life of a child stranded on the battlefield.
Besides that giant statue, the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park has 16 stone sarcophagi, one for each of the republics under the USSR at the time, telling the story of the Second World War from their point of view.
The Soviet Memorial was designed in a way that shields it from the outside. A wall of trees surrounds the place during the warm months, but you cannot see it during the winter. It looks more desolate and makes me think about everything that happened back then. The whiteness of the snow contrasting with all the dead trees around the place makes for a really epic scenery.
You should visit there when it snows in Berlin, you will love it.
The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park is easy to reach once you take the train to Treptower Park U-Bahn station. It lies a little outside the tourist path in Berlin, but I am sure you will enjoy this place.
ou can search Google Maps for Soviet War Memorial Treptow on Puschkinallee or try the map below.
Winter at the most prominent Soviet Memorial in Berlin
Puschkinallee, 12435 Berlin
We posted about the Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park before, and you can see more pictures of this fantastic place there.
And you can read about the history of this large Soviet Memorial here.
