Treptower Park memorial to Soviet soldiers in Berlin. To be remembered

In the popular Treptower Park, located in East Berlin, stands one of the most famous monuments in the world, preserving the memory of the Second World War. This is a statue of the Soldier-Liberator, which is the center of one of the three military memorials in the German capital, reminiscent of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War and the liberation of Europe from fascism.

History of the creation of the monument

The idea of ​​creating a memorial arose immediately after the war. In 1946, the War Council of the group Soviet troops Germany announced a competition for best project monument to soldiers-liberators. Out of 33 projects, the winner was the project developed by the architect Ya. B. Belopolsky and the sculptor E. V. Vuchetich. Interestingly, Vuchetich presented two sketches of the central monument. The first was supposed to depict Stalin with a globe in his hand, but the Generalissimo himself approved the second option. There is information that Stalin made another proposal - to replace the machine gun in the hands of a soldier with a sword. Of course, this adjustment was also accepted. At the same time, some historians claim that the idea with the sword belonged to the sculptor himself.

The plot of the monument was inspired real event. True, it is not known who exactly served as the prototype. Historians name two names - Nikolai Masalov, who was carried out from under fire German girl, and Trifon Lukyanovich, who repeated the same feat. They could pose for the sculptor different people. So, according to the memoirs of Colonel V.M. Gunazy, it was he who posed for Vuchetich in 1945, when he served in Austria. As stated in the memoirs of V.M. Gunaz, it was he who advised the sculptor to depict a girl in the soldier’s hands, and not a boy, as he had originally planned.

Already while working in Berlin, Private I.S. posed for Vuchetich. Odarchenko, whom the sculptor saw at the celebration of Athlete’s Day. Interestingly, Odarchenko also posed for the mosaic panel, which is located inside the pedestal of the monument. Author, artist A.A. Gorpenko depicted him on the panel twice. Subsequently, Odarchenko served in Berlin, including standing guard at the monument to the Soldier-Liberator. People repeatedly approached him and asked whether his striking resemblance to the monument was coincidental, but he never confessed.

The model for the girl’s figure was first Marlene, the daughter of the German architect Felix Krause, who helped Vuchetich. However, later they decided that she was not suitable in age, after which they settled on the candidacy of 3-year-old Svetlana, the daughter of the Soviet commandant of Berlin, Major General Kotikov.

The history of the sword is interesting. Vuchetich depicted not an abstract sword, but a completely concrete blade of the Prince of Novgorod and Pskov, Vsevolod, at the baptism of Gabriel (1095-1138), canonized in 1549.

Work on the huge monument was fraught with great difficulties. First, Vuchetich sculpted a sculpture from clay one-fifth of life-size, then plaster fragments were prepared for casting, which were sent to Leningrad, to the Monument-Sculpture plant. Already here the statue was embodied in bronze and transported in parts by sea to Berlin.

Initially, it was assumed that the monument would be cast in Germany, but German companies demanded at least six months. Soviet authorities They planned to open the monument for the 4th anniversary of the Victory, so the order was transferred to Leningrad. Leningrad foundry workers completed it in seven weeks. The monument was ready by the specified date, its opening took place on May 8, 1949.

Treptower Park Memorial

Currently, the monument to the Soldier-Liberator is the central element of the Treptow Park memorial complex, in which more than 7,000 Soviet soldiers who died during the storming of Berlin are buried. The monument represents the figure of a warrior holding a right hand a lowered sword, in the left - a German girl clinging to him. A soldier tramples a cut Nazi swastika with his feet. The height of the monument is about 13 meters, weight – 72 tons. The work of the creators of the monument was highly appreciated - creative team was awarded Stalin Prize 1st degree.

The monument is installed on a granite pedestal, which in turn stands on a high embankment. A memorial hall was created inside the pedestal, the walls of which are decorated with mosaics depicting representatives of the peoples of the USSR laying flowers at the graves of the fallen. In the middle of the hall, on a black polished stone cube, there is a golden casket containing a book with the names of all those who died during the capture of Berlin. A very impressive chandelier with a diameter of 2.5 m under the dome of the hall, made of rubies and crystal in the form of the Order of Victory.

It is on these mosaics that Ivan Odarchenko, who posed for Vuchetich for the monument, is depicted twice.

The memorial ensemble of Treptow Park itself occupies an area of ​​about 200 thousand square meters. m. Several tens of thousands of trees and shrubs were planted in it, and 5 kilometers of paths were laid, framed by a granite curb. In addition to the central monument, the park contains a sculpture carved from a granite monolith, “Motherland,” and in front of the Soldier-Liberator there is a memorial field with sarcophagi, mass graves, bowed banners made of red granite and two bronze statues of kneeling soldiers. And now, decades after the war, the memorial evokes a strong emotional response from numerous visitors.

It is interesting that the granite from which the memorial was built was taken by the Nazis from occupied Holland and was intended for the construction of the monument after the victory in the war with the USSR. In the end, the stone served exactly this purpose, only the winner turned out to be different. In total, the construction took about 40 thousand square meters. m. granite slabs.

The status of the memorial is secured by an agreement signed by the four victorious powers, Germany and the GDR. According to the terms of the agreement, the memorial has eternal status, and its safety is guaranteed by the German government. Repairs are also carried out at the expense of Germany. And the Germans strictly comply with their obligations. So, in 2003-2004. The Liberator Monument was dismantled and taken away for restoration financed by Germany.

It would be appropriate to mention the fate of Vuchetich’s prototype model. It was stored in Germany until 1964, when it was transported to Russia. Currently, the sculpture is installed in the Serpukhov memorial complex “Cathedral Mountain”.

War memorial in, ; Europe's largest monument to a Soviet soldier. More than 7,000 Soviet soldiers are buried there. The height of the structure is 12 m, and the weight is approximately 70 tons. This monumental monument is included in the version of our website.

Geographically, it is located in one of the largest parks in the German capital, Treptower Park. You can get to it from the center by S-Bahn city train. You need to get off at the Treptower Park stop. After exiting the metro, you need to walk a little towards Pushkinskaya Alley.

The memorial to the soldier-liberator was erected in 1947-49. as a symbol of victory Soviet people over fascism. Central element complex is a massive figure of a soldier with a child in his arms. It is known that the prototype of the sculpture was a soldier named Masalov, who saved a German girl during the storming of Berlin.

Outstanding Soviet masters worked on the creation of the sculpture. Another emphasis in the composition is placed on the huge sword in the soldier’s other hand. It is believed that this is the same sword that the Motherland raises above itself in Volgograd. In front of the bronze sculpture of a soldier there is a memorial field with mass graves.

At the very entrance to the memorial hall stands the Motherland, grieving for her dead sons. The sides of the monument are surrounded by Russian birch trees. In 2003, the sculpture of the warrior was completely restored, and now it is updated and welcomes its visitors.

Photo attraction: Monument to the Soldier-Liberator

21 July 1950. Source : Deutsches Bundesarchiv ( Hermann Federal Archive ), Build 183- WITH 99134. Author photo : Sturm , Horst

StatueSovietWarrior- LiberatorVTrePtovpark, Berlin.

Warrior-Liberator - monument in Berlin's Treptower Park. Sculptor E. V. Vuchetich, architect Ya. B. Belopolsky. Opened on May 8, 1949. Height - 12 meters.

The center of the composition is the figure of a Soviet soldier with a lowered sword and a child in his arms, standing on the ruins of a swastika. It is believed that the prototype for the sculptor was a Soviet soldier, a native of the village of Voznesenka, Tisulsky district Kemerovo region, Nikolai Masalov, who saved a German girl during the storming of Berlin in April 1945. Created by E.V. Vuchetich monument to the Warrior-Liberator from the paratrooper Ivan Odarenko from Tambov.

In the fall of 2003, the sculpture of the warrior was dismantled and sent for restoration. In the spring of 2004, the restored sculpture returned to its original place.

On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany On May 8, 1949, a monument to Soviet soldiers who died a heroic death during the storming of the German capital was solemnly opened in Berlin.

The last stronghold of fascism resisted desperately. The assault was brutal, many died in the battle. The heroes were buried in the center of Berlin, in the ancient Treptower Park.
“The Motherland will not forget its heroes” is carved into the stone above the mass grave of four Heroes Soviet Union. And as a symbol of the Motherland, two white birch trees mournfully bend over the granite slab. They were brought here from the Smolensk region along with their native land. In the whisper of their tender foliage, in the fluttering of thin branches, sounds are heard native land, eternal love and gratitude of the people.

Bluish gray spruces, plane trees and lindens stood like a living wall in a semicircle of two small squares, absorbing the human flow of Berlin streets. The sides bordering them - benches made of light gray granite - are adjacent to powerful single-bay arches that open the entrance to the territory of the monument.

The granite monoliths of the arches are harsh and strict. A wreath and garlands of oak and laurel leaves, shields with orders, dates and laconic inscriptions - everything was cut out as if from a single block and enhances the impression of the monumental nature of the buildings. The impression of stern solemnity does not leave a person all the way to the “Mother Motherland” statue.

In a narrow alley, linden trees rustle almost overhead, a light gray path with a black border runs off into the distance... It leads to a small square, where, against the background of gray fir trees, the granite figure of a woman is clearly visible, wearily sank onto a bench. In deep sorrow, the head bowed on the chest, the hand seemed to want to hold back the trembling heart... And, as if dividing maternal feelings, the curly crowns of the birch trees planted around the square bent their curly crowns to the ground. But there is no hopeless despair on the mother’s face. It froze in the utmost tension of will, and strong excitement The only thing that gives away is the hand clutching a soft shawl. Big mental strength embodied in this image. The calm lines of the silhouette, the smooth flow of soft folds of her simple clothes, the amazing sincerity of movement and gesture personify everything that is light, warm and dear that a person associates with the name of his mother.

The figure of the Motherland is carved from a light gray monolith stone, its size is two and a half times larger than the natural one. It is placed on a low red pedestal made of polished granite. The lawn and mosaic of gray granite cubes and black labrador stone create a simple and austere environment. From this monument there is a view of the main entrance and the central monument of the ensemble. A wide alley leads to them; bordered by four rows of pyramidal poplars. Their strict verticals create a clear rhythm of the march, softened by the delicate birch trees planted in front of them. The road gradually rises for almost a hundred meters and from a height of three and a half meters the entire center of the ensemble opens up to the eye.
The technique of unexpectedly revealing large spaces was often used by Russian architects. It underlies the layout of the Petrodvorets park and the Arkhangelskoye complex near Moscow.

Colossal granite terraces lead to the ground floor where the heroes are buried. Two giant red granite flags at half-mast symbolize the final military honors given to the heroes. They burn with gold mirror surface words: " Eternal Glory warriors Soviet army who gave their lives in the struggle for the liberation of humanity from fascist slavery." Bronze figures of kneeling warriors at the foot of the banners seem to enhance the sound of the solemn anthem with which fellow soldiers saw off those killed in battle. The courageous faces of the warriors are as stern as a soldier’s grief. Bending over the dear graves, they vow to forever preserve the peace paid for in blood.

On the lower terrace there is a grave of four Heroes of the Soviet Union. Five giant bronze wreaths on granite slabs indicate the sites of mass graves. Covered with bright greenery, they are beautifully set off by a picturesque mosaic carpet made of natural stone: white laurel wreaths of Glory are laid out on a red background. The red mosaic echoes the color of the red banners, enhancing the color integrity and accentuating main part ensemble - the graves of fallen soldiers. Rows of sarcophagi with bas-reliefs depicting the stages of major events Patriotic War.
Sculptor Evgeniy Viktorovich Vuchetich created a stone chronicle telling of the immense suffering, great courage and high patriotism of the Soviet people and their army.
One of the reliefs depicts soviet people engaged in peaceful labor. The fascist bandit attack was sudden. Enemy bombs destroyed factories and deprived people of shelter and bread. A woman is crying by the broken hearth, people are cursing the fascist monsters.

The entire people rose to defend the fatherland.

Reliefs depicting people handing over weapons and their labor savings to soldiers, showing people's avengers-partisans, tell about the unity of the front and rear.

The mass heroism of the people was embodied in the exploits of Alexander Matrosov, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, the glorious Panfilovites and many others. These exploits are depicted on one of the sarcophagi: a warrior throwing himself under an enemy tank with a bunch of grenades, and a hero covering the embrasure of an enemy bunker with his chest.

The defenders of the hero cities covered themselves with immortal glory. Their images are also immortalized in relief.

The Soviet Army defeated the Nazis and saved the enslaved peoples of Europe. Our soldiers were greeted as if they were their own sons. liberated countries. The sarcophagus shows a scene symbolizing the unbreakable friendship of the peoples of the Soviet Union. The last relief depicts Soviet people paying military honors to those who died in the sacred liberation war. Eight sarcophagi are placed so that from a distance they seem to overlap one another, creating the impression of a powerful frieze leading to the center of the entire ensemble - the statue of the liberating warrior.
The thirteen-meter bronze figure of a soldier represents the Soviet Army, which took up arms with the sacred goal of liberating its homeland from invaders, destroying fascism, which threatened humanity with enslavement, and protecting the peaceful labor of people all over the world.

The figure of a young warrior breathes invincible force. Small child trustingly clung to the chest of the kind giant. The ancient sword with which the warrior cut the swastika is a symbol of the defense of a just and noble cause, a symbol of the struggle for people to live happily, so that they work calmly, without fear that the fiery squall of war will sweep over the earth again.

The statue of the warrior-liberator is perfectly perceived from all sides, which is facilitated by its easy reversal. The vertical lines of the draped raincoat give the figure the necessary stability. The base of the monument is a green mound, reminiscent of ancient burial mounds. This adds another note to the national melody of the entire ensemble. On the mound there is a light pedestal of a figure, inside of which a mausoleum is built - the solemn completion of the entire ensemble.

The mausoleum is a round domed hall, the walls of which are decorated with smalt mosaics. The artist A. A. Gorpenko depicted the people bringing tribute of gratitude and appreciation to the dead. In the center of the hall, on a pedestal made of black Labradorite, there is a golden casket. It contains a book bound in morocco, in which the names of soldiers who died in the battles for Berlin are written on imperishable sheets of parchment. The hall is illuminated by a chandelier made of crystal and rubies, made in the shape of the Order of Victory.
Soft light and solemn silence evoke thoughts about the great and eternal - about the beauty of the feat of the brave, about the greatness of death in the name of the happiness of the living.

“Your great deeds are immortal. Your fame will endure for centuries. Your homeland will forever preserve your memory.” These words are carved deep into the stone. They sink deep into human hearts. People bring flowers and wreaths to the graves of heroes.

The monument to Soviet soldiers in the center of Europe will always remind people of the sacred duty of everyone - to tirelessly fight for peace on earth.

...And in Berlin on a holiday
Was erected to stand for centuries,
Monument to the Soviet soldier
With a rescued girl in her arms.
He stands as a symbol of our glory,
Like a beacon shining in the darkness.
This is him - a soldier of my state -
Protects peace throughout the world!

G. Rublev

On May 8, 1950, one of the most majestic symbols opened in Berlin's Treptower Park Great Victory. The liberating warrior climbed to a height of many meters with a German girl in his arms. This 13-meter monument became epoch-making in its own way. Let's find out more details about him...

Millions of people visiting Berlin try to visit here to worship the great feat of the Soviet people. Not everyone knows that according to the original plan, in Treptow Park, where the ashes of more than 5 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers rest, there should have been a majestic figure of Comrade. Stalin. And this bronze idol was supposed to hold a globe in its hands. Like, “the whole world is in our hands.”

This is exactly what the first one imagined soviet marshal– Kliment Voroshilov, when he called the sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich to his place immediately after finishing Potsdam Conference heads of the Allied powers. But the front-line soldier, sculptor Vuchetich, prepared another option just in case - the pose should be an ordinary Russian soldier who tramped from the walls of Moscow to Berlin, saving a German girl. They say that the leader of all times and peoples, having looked at both proposed options, chose the second. And he only asked to replace the machine gun in the soldier’s hands with something more symbolic, for example, a sword. And so that he chops down the fascist swastika...

Why exactly the warrior and the girl? Evgeniy Vuchetich was familiar with the story of the feat of Sergeant Nikolai Masalov...

A few minutes before the start of a fierce attack on German positions, he suddenly heard, as if from underground, a child’s cry. Nikolai rushed to the commander: “I know how to find the child! Allow me!" And a second later he rushed to search. Crying came from under the bridge. However, it is better to give the floor to Masalov himself. Nikolai Ivanovich recalled this: “Under the bridge I saw a three-year-old girl sitting next to her murdered mother. The baby had blond hair that was slightly curly at the forehead. She kept tugging at her mother’s belt and calling: “Mutter, mutter!” There is no time to think here. I grab the girl and back again. And how she will scream! As I walk, I persuade her this way and that: shut up, they say, otherwise you will open me. Here the Nazis really started firing. Thanks to our guys - they helped us out and opened fire with all guns.”

At this moment Nikolai was wounded in the leg. But he didn’t abandon the girl, he brought it to his people... And a few days later the sculptor Vuchetich appeared in the regiment, who made several sketches for his future sculpture...

This is the most common version that the historical prototype for the monument was soldier Nikolai Masalov (1921-2001). In 2003, a plaque was installed on the Potsdamer Bridge (Potsdamer Brücke) in Berlin in memory of the feat accomplished in this place.

The story is based primarily on the memoirs of Marshal Vasily Chuikov. The very fact of Masalov’s feat has been confirmed, but during the GDR, eyewitness accounts were collected about other similar cases throughout Berlin. There were several dozen of them. Before the assault, many residents remained in the city. The National Socialists did not give civilian population leave it, intending to defend the capital of the “Third Reich” to the last.

The names of the soldiers who posed for Vuchetich after the war are precisely known: Ivan Odarchenko and Viktor Gunaz. Odarchenko served in the Berlin commandant's office. The sculptor noticed him during sports competitions. After the opening of the memorial, Odarchenko happened to be on duty near the monument, and many visitors, who did not suspect anything, were surprised by the obvious portrait resemblance. By the way, at the beginning of work on the sculpture he was holding a German girl in his arms, but then she was replaced by the little daughter of the commandant of Berlin.

It is interesting that after the opening of the monument in Treptower Park, Ivan Odarchenko, who served in the Berlin commandant’s office, guarded the “bronze soldier” several times. People approached him, amazed at his resemblance to the liberating warrior. But modest Ivan never said that it was he who posed for the sculptor. And the fact that the original idea of ​​holding a German girl in his arms, in the end, had to be abandoned.

The prototype of the child was 3-year-old Svetochka, the daughter of the commandant of Berlin, General Kotikov. By the way, the sword was not at all contrived, but an exact copy of the sword of the Pskov prince Gabriel, who, together with Alexander Nevsky, fought against the “dog knights”.

It is interesting that the sword in the hands of the “Warrior-Liberator” has a connection with other famous monuments: it is implied that the sword in the hands of the soldier is the same sword that the worker gives to the warrior depicted on the monument “Rear to Front” (Magnitogorsk), and which then the Motherland raises Mamayev Kurgan In Volgograd.

ABOUT " Supreme Commander-in-Chief"reminiscent of his numerous quotes carved on symbolic sarcophagi in Russian and German languages. After the reunification of Germany, some German politicians demanded their removal, citing crimes committed during the Stalinist dictatorship, but the whole complex, according to interstate agreements, is under state protection. No changes are allowed here without the consent of Russia.

Reading quotes from Stalin these days evokes ambiguous sensations and emotions, makes us remember and think about the fate of millions of people both in Germany and in the former Soviet Union who died in Stalin times. But in in this case Quotes should not be taken out of the general context; they are a document of history necessary for its comprehension.

After the Battle of Berlin, the sports park near Treptower Allee became a soldiers' cemetery. Mass graves are located under the alleys of the memory park.

The work began when Berliners, not yet divided by the wall, were rebuilding their city brick by brick from the ruins. Vuchetich was helped by German engineers. The widow of one of them, Helga Köpfstein, recalls: much in this project seemed unusual to them.

Helga Köpfstein, tour guide: “We asked why the soldier was holding a sword rather than a machine gun? They explained to us that the sword is a symbol. A Russian soldier defeated the Teutonic knights Lake Peipsi, and a few centuries later he reached Berlin and defeated Hitler.”

60 German sculptors and 200 stonemasons were involved in the production of sculptural elements according to Vuchetich’s sketches, and a total of 1,200 workers took part in the construction of the memorial. They all received additional allowances and food. Bowls for eternal flame and a mosaic in the mausoleum under the sculpture of the liberating warrior.

Work on the memorial was carried out for 3 years by the architect J. Belopolsky and the sculptor E. Vuchetich. Interestingly, granite from Hitler's Reich Chancellery was used for construction. 13 meter figure Warrior-liberator was manufactured in St. Petersburg and weighed 72 tons. It was transported to Berlin in parts by water. According to Vuchetich’s story, after one of the best German foundries carefully examined the sculpture made in Leningrad and made sure that everything was done flawlessly, he approached the sculpture, kissed its base and said: “Yes, this is a Russian miracle!”

In addition to the memorial in Treptower Park, monuments to Soviet soldiers were erected in two other places immediately after the war. About 2,000 fallen soldiers are buried in Tiergarten Park, located in central Berlin. In the Schönholzer Heide park in Berlin's Pankow district there are more than 13 thousand.

During the GDR memorial Complex in Treptower Park served as the venue various kinds official events, had the status of one of the most important state monuments. On August 31, 1994, at the ceremonial verification, dedicated to memory fallen and the withdrawal of Russian troops from a united Germany, one thousand Russian and six hundred German soldiers, and the parade was hosted by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

The status of the monument and all Soviet military cemeteries is enshrined in separate chapter treaty concluded between the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic and the victorious powers in World War II. According to this document, the memorial is guaranteed eternal status, and the German authorities are obliged to finance its maintenance and ensure its integrity and safety. Which is done in the best possible way.

It’s impossible not to talk about future destinies Nikolai Masalov and Ivan Odarchenko. After demobilization, Nikolai Ivanovich returned to his native village of Voznesenka, Tisulsky district, Kemerovo region. A unique case - his parents took four sons to the front and all four returned home victorious. Due to shell shock, Nikolai Ivanovich was unable to work on a tractor, and after moving to Tyazhin he got a job as a supply manager in kindergarten. This is where journalists found him. 20 years after the end of the war, fame fell on Masalov, which, however, he treated with his characteristic modesty.

In 1969 he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Berlin. But talking about my heroic act, Nikolai Ivanovich never tired of emphasizing: what he did was no feat; many would have done the same in his place. That's how it was in life. When German Komsomol members decided to find out about the fate of the rescued girl, they received hundreds of letters describing similar cases. And the rescue of at least 45 boys and girls by Soviet soldiers has been documented. Today Nikolai Ivanovich Masalov is no longer alive...

But Ivan Odarchenko still lives in Tambov (information for 2007). He worked at a factory, then retired. He buried his wife, but the veteran has frequent guests - his daughter and granddaughter. And at parades dedicated to the Great Victory, Ivan Stepanovich was often invited to portray a liberating warrior with a girl in his arms... And on the 60th anniversary of the Victory, the Memory Train even brought an 80-year-old veteran and his comrades to Berlin.

Last year, a scandal erupted in Germany around monuments to Soviet liberating soldiers erected in Berlin's Treptower Park and Tiergarten. Due to latest events in Ukraine, journalists from popular German publications sent letters to the Bundestag demanding the dismantling of legendary monuments.

One of the publications that signed the openly provocative petition was the newspaper Bild. Journalists write that Russian tanks have no place near the famous Brandenburg Gate. "Bye Russian troops threaten the security of a free and democratic Europe, we do not want to see a single Russian tank in the center of Berlin,” write angry media workers. In addition to the authors of Bild, this document representatives of the Berliner Tageszeitung also signed.

German journalists believe that Russian military units stationed near the Ukrainian border threaten the independence of a sovereign state. "For the first time since graduating cold war Russia is trying to suppress a peaceful revolution in Eastern Europe by force,” German journalists write.

The scandalous document was sent to the Bundestag. By law, German authorities must review it within two weeks.

This statement by German journalists caused a storm of indignation among readers of Bild and Berliner Tageszeitung. Many believe that newspapermen are deliberately escalating the situation around the Ukrainian issue.

Over the course of sixty years, this monument has truly become an integral part of Berlin. It was on postage stamps and coins; during the GDR, probably half of the population of East Berlin was accepted as pioneers. In the nineties, after the unification of the country, Berliners from the west and east held anti-fascist rallies here.

And neo-Nazis more than once smashed marble slabs and painted swastikas on obelisks. But each time the walls were washed, and the broken slabs were replaced with new ones. The Soviet soldier in Treptover Park is one of the most well-kept monuments in Berlin. Germany spent about three million euros on its reconstruction. Some people were very annoyed by this.

Hans Georg Büchner, architect, former member Berlin Senate: “What is there to hide, in the early nineties we had one deputy of the Berlin Senate. When your troops were withdrawing from Germany, this figure shouted - let them take this monument with them. Now no one even remembers his name.”

A monument can be called a national monument if people go to it not only on Victory Day. Sixty years have changed Germany greatly, but it has not changed the way Germans look at their history. Both in the old Gadeer guidebooks and on modern tourist sites, this is a monument to the “Soviet soldier-liberator”. To the common man, who came to Europe in peace.

Monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Berlin, history May 8th, 2009

Liberator Warrior- monument in Berlin's Treptower Park. Sculptor E. V. Vuchetich, architect Ya. B. Belopolsky. Opened on May 8, 1949. Height - 12 meters.

The bronze sculpture of a warrior is installed on a green hill - a stylized mound. On it, on a round pedestal, stands the figure of a soldier with a lowered sword and a little girl in his arms. Under the warrior’s feet is a fascist swastika he cut. The total height of the monument is 28.6 meters, the height of the sculpture itself is 12 meters.

It is believed that the prototype of the figure of a soldier with a child was Sergeant Nikolai Masalov, who in April 1945 carried a German child from the shelling zone. In memory of the sergeant, a Memorial plaque with the inscription: “During the battles for Berlin on April 30, 1945, near this bridge, risking his life, he saved a child caught between two fronts from the fire.”

Ivan GAPONENKO writes:

In 1990, I visited the GDR with a group of tourists. Berlin guide Albina Schweigel showed us Knizhnaya Street, which in April 1945 was the front line in the battle for Berlin. “On the left side there were Soviet soldiers in the houses, on the right there were selected SS units,” Albina explained.

We approached the red brick memorial sign. Albina translated for us the inscription written in German: “Trofim Andreevich Lukyanovich, senior sergeant of the Soviet Army, on April 29, 1945, saved a German child from SS bullets here. Five days after his heroic deed he died from severe wounds. Honor and glory to his memory."

Albina told what happened that day.

The battle for Berlin was raging, and they were hiding in a bomb shelter civilians- old people, women, children. When there was a lull between the battles, a five-year-old girl, disobeying her mother, went outside. Noticing her daughter's absence, the mother rushed outside. And suddenly, from the window of the house where the SS men were holed up, a burst of machine gun fire crackled - a woman, bleeding, collapsed dead on the pavement. The daughter, seeing her dead mother, burst into tears. Hearing the child’s cry, Lukyanovich rushed to save the girl. He crawled over, picked him up, and crawled back. When he had already reached his own people and handed the child over to his comrades, a shot rang out from the German side. An SS sniper's bullet mortally wounded the hero. In the medical battalion he came to his senses. He told his comrades that he was born in 1919 in Belarus, into a working-class family. He worked as a foreman at the Minsk Watch Factory. At the beginning of the war, a German air bomb hit the house where Lukyanovich’s family lived. The mother, wife, two daughters and mother-in-law died.

Doctors fought long and hard for the hero’s life, but could not save him...

And the German girl, saved by a Soviet soldier, was taken in by Frau Silke, whose husband died at Stalingrad.

—What happened to the girl? - we asked Albina. She smiled and replied: “It’s me...”

She said that she graduated from the faculty of Berlin College foreign languages and works as a guide-instructor at the city department of Intourist.

And in Berlin's Treptower Park, 5,000 Soviet soldiers who died during the liberation of the city sleep in eternal sleep. Red carnations lie on the gravestones, and nearby white Russian birches rustle in the wind, reminiscent of their distant homeland. On a bronze pedestal stands a 13-meter tall figure of a Soviet liberator warrior with a girl in his arms, whom he saved.

Memorial Complex

The memorial is located in a park in the former East Berlin. The total area of ​​the majestic structure is 280 thousand square meters.

The memorial was created by order of the SVAG (Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Military Administration) number 139 dated June 3/4, 1947 “On the construction of monuments in the Treptow and Pankowski parks of the city of Berlin to the fallen Soviet soldiers.”

The authors of the complex are sculptor Evgeniy Vuchetich, architect Yakov Belopolsky, engineer Sarah Varelius and artist Alexander Gorpenko. Work on the creation of the memorial from June 1947 to May 1949 was carried out by 7 thousand builders. At the same time, the remains of soldiers from other areas of Berlin were reburied.

The complex has two entrances in the form of arches with inscriptions in Russian and German. The inscription reads: “Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in battles for the freedom and independence of the socialist Motherland.” The alleys from the entrances lead to the three-meter stone sculpture “Motherland”. And already from the sculpture there is a view of the entire memorial and the 12-meter monument.

The granite from which the memorial was created was taken from the ruins of the Reich Chancellery.

Login to memorial cemetery on the right and left are framed by 13-meter granite banners. On both sides, near the banners, kneeling warriors are sculptured. From the terraced entrance, a staircase descends to the central part architectural complex. Along its main axis there are five mass graves, and on both sides of the main axis - 16 sarcophagi (eight on the right and left) with bas-reliefs.

Of the 7.2 thousand, the names of 2.77 thousand people are known.

Restoration of the sculpture

Large-scale restoration of the sculpture, which lasted more than a year, ended in 2004. The bronze soldier was dismantled and transported to the island of Rügen. There, the 45-ton sculpture's support structure was strengthened and the metal was cleaned. The work was carried out by Metallbau. Other parts of the memorial were also restored.

The monument is managed by the urban development department of the Berlin Senate. The restoration cost the department 5.3 million euros; 1.35 million euros were spent on work directly related to the sculpture.

Eternal glory to our heroes! Happy Victory Day!