The Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park is the largest war memorial not only in Berlin, but all over Germany. The impressive statue on the mausoleum depicts a soldier holding a rescued German child in his arms. The memorial commemorates the approximately 80,000 Soviet soldiers who lost their lives while taking Berlin.

The Soviet War Memorial was built to commemorate 50.000 soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin during the war in 1945. Although it was opened already four years after the war, it was only finished in the 1990s. The memorial is huge, amidst it a very graphic statue. The architecture is quite captivating. The memorial also serves a military cemetery.

Not only is this Soviet landmark a crucial part Berlins history, it’s also quite a sight. Next time you wonder what to show your visiting friends and family, skip the tiresome Brandenburger Tor adventure and head over to the Treptower Park. Get some bikes and prepare a picknick on a sunny afternoon, you will not be disappointed.

The bronze Soviet soldier with a rescued child in his arms and a lowered sword over a shattered swastika symbolizes the smashing of National Socialism and the view into a peaceful future.

I often run from Kreuzberg through Treptower Park only to see the memorial. It’s one of my favorite sights in Berlin and never ceases to take the breath away.

At the end of the complex stands the main monument of the memorial: the cone-shaped mausoleum hill with a crypt that serves as a base for the main figure, the Red Army soldier. The interior of the crypt is lined with a mosaic frieze depicting representatives of the 16 Soviet Union republics at the commemoration of the dead. The bronze Soviet soldier with a rescued child in his arms and a lowered sword over a shattered swastika symbolizes the smashing of National Socialism and the view into a peaceful future.