Soviet War Memorial on Schönholzer Heide

When you enter the memorial, you see it is flanked by two massive granite pillars with eternal burning flames and symbolic wreaths. Those elements feel more potent than previous Soviet Memorials we visited in the past. After the eternal flames, you will be presented with big gatehouse towers decorated with large bronze reliefs representing the grieving Soviet people. There are also symbols of various Russian military branches, and the tanks were the elements we liked the most.

When you look into those gatehouses, you can see that each of them contains a symbolic empty urn and a quote from Stalin praising the Red Army’s heroic deeds. Stalin references are not something that we see that often and it was quite odd to find them here, even after the entire De-Stalinization process that happened decades ago.

Overall, the Sowjetisches Ehrenmal in Schönholzer Heide isn’t the most important or more beautiful Soviet Memorial in Berlin. We consider that this title will always be held by the one in Treptow. But this is an interesting place to visit and explore. It feels less touristy and you can even drop by the piece of the Berlin wall that was found hidden in the woods close by.