The monument to Soviet soldiers in Berlin, opened in Treptow Park four years after the Great Victory, stands there today. The world has changed a lot in recent years. Previously, during the GDR, many events were held here, government delegations visiting Germany certainly came here, tourists and local residents came here.
Today there are few visitors here, and despite the disagreement in society on the assessment of "Russian issues", the Soldier with a girl in his arms stands proudly in a place of honor in the capital of Germany.
Starting work on the monument
The assault on Berlin at the end of April 1945 - the last spurt to victory - cost the lives of many Soviet soldiers. More than 20 thousand soldiers died here in the last days of the war and remained lying in the ground on the outskirts of the capital of Germany. The solution to the issue of their burial with the perpetuation of memory was resolved in the following way: places were allocated for mass graves with the creation of memorial complexes. Treptow Park has become one of them.
About seven thousand soldiers and officers are buried in this place, and therefore the decision to build a memorial memorial was approached very responsibly. A competition for the best monument was announced, in which 33 projects took part. The work of E. V. Vuchetich and Ya. B. Belopolsky was recognized as the best and approved for implementation.
The central place in the composition was occupied by the figure of a man standing on a high pedestal. Immediately after the Potsdam Conference, at which the issue of creating a memory complex was decided, Marshal Voroshilov summoned Vuchetich and offered to work on the project. He saw in the central figure a sculpture of I. V. Stalin with a globe in his hands, which symbolized the freedom granted to the world by the Soviet people, or a demonstration that the whole world is in the hands of the Soviet leader. The interpretation of this symbol in different sources is not the same.
But an experienced man and front-line soldier Vuchetich, just in case, prepared a fallback, where the central sculpture of the monument to Soviet soldiers was the figure of a Soviet soldier with a child in his arms. Stalin approved the second option.
Symbols of the Monument
The author of the monument to the soldier-liberator in Berlin managed to create the image of a soldier who protected all people from fascism. While working on the monument, E. V. Vuchetich, perhaps even then assumed that the memorial in Germany would become part of a series of planned works about the victory of the Soviet people.
Changes have been made to the type of weapon a soldier holds downhand. At first it was an automatic. But I. V. Stalin proposed to strengthen the symbolism by putting an ancient Russian sword into the hands of the winner. It was with such weapons that our ancestors defended their lands from enemies. Every Russian person knows the words spoken by Alexander Nevsky: “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword!” And here, in Berlin, the warrior lowered his weapon, cutting through the fascist swastika with it. But at the same time, he did not release the sword, his hand tightly grips the hilt.
Another symbolism has been created over the years. E. V. Vuchetich is also the author of the memorial complex in Volgograd, on Mamaev Kurgan. His sculpture "Motherland Calls" is known throughout the world. And after his death, the memorial “Rear to the front!” appeared in Magnitogorsk, which completed, or rather began, the Victory triptych. The symbol is as follows: the Magnitogorsk sword, forged by home front workers, was raised high by the Motherland to protect the Soviet country, and its soldiers lowered it only in Berlin, destroying fascism.
Creating a sculpture
Soviet and German specialists worked together to create a monument to a Soviet soldier in Treptow Park, implementing the author's project. The 27th Department of Defense Structures supervised the construction. German firms were involved: Noack foundry, Puhl & Wagner mosaic and stained-glass workshops, Shpet's garden associations. 1200 German workers took part in large-scale works, and in total - seven thousand people.
The very figure of a soldier was made in Leningrad, at the "Monumental Sculpture" factory. Its height is 12 meters and its weight is 70 tons. For ease of transportationdivided into twelve components and delivered to Berlin by sea. During installation, all parts fit with high accuracy, which caused surprise and delight of German colleagues.
The memorial covers an area of almost 300,000 square meters. In the post-war years, it was unrealistic to collect the required amount of materials, thousands of cubic meters of granite and marble. The case helped. A former prisoner of the Gestapo, a German, having learned about the upcoming construction, showed the place where the Nazis stored building material for the construction of a memorial to the victory over the USSR. Symbolically. Honored builder G. Kravtsov recalls this.
Soldier's feat
During the years of the war, Soviet soldiers accomplished thousands of feats. Someone was awarded, someone remained unknown. But going to the death in the last battle was incomparably harder.
Marshal V. I. Chuikov wrote about Sergeant Nikolai Masalov, who became the prototype of a soldier when creating a monument to Soviet soldiers, in his book “The Storming of Berlin”.
In April 1945, our advanced troops reached Berlin. The 220th Infantry Regiment, where Nikolai fought, advanced along the right bank of the Spree River. The street fighting was brutal and bloody.
The soldiers were preparing for a new attack, advanced to the lines in small groups. There were different ways to cross the river. Someone had to cross on improvised means, and someone had to break through the bridge. There were 50 minutes left before the attack.
There was a lull before the fight, everyone was waiting tensely for the upcoming command. And suddenly, in this silence, the fighters heard a quietvoice. A child in distress was crying. Nikolai Masalov rushed to the commander with a request to be allowed to try to get to the child. Having received permission, he moved to the bridge. He crawled along the targeted ground, among the mines, hiding in the craters from enemy bullets.
Later, N. I. Masalov said that he saw a little girl under the bridge, crying near her murdered mother. Picking up the child, the soldier rushed back, but the frightened baby began to scream and escape, which attracted the attention of the Germans. The Nazis opened furious fire, and the sergeant would not have broken through if not for fellow soldiers. They covered the soldier with the child with return fire. At the same time, artillery preparation began before the attack.
The sergeant with the child moved to the neutral zone, he wanted to give the girl to one of the civilians, but did not find anyone. Then he went straight to the headquarters and handed her over to the captain, and he himself went to the front line. The comrades made fun of him for a long time, asking him to tell them how he got the "language".
Meeting of the sculptor and the soldier
Front-line artist E. V. Vuchetich, performing the task of the newspaper, arrived at the regiment a few days later. He made sketches for a poster dedicated to the imminent victory. Having met with the sergeant, the artist made several sketches. Neither Nikolai nor the sculptor knew then that this material would become the basis for creating a monument to Soviet soldiers in Berlin.
Starting to work on the main figure, E. V. Vuchetich made sketches that were praised by both colleagues and the military. But the sculptor was dissatisfied with the result. Remembering the meeting with the warrior,carrying a German child out of the fire, he made a decision.
Ivan Odarchenko and Victor Gunaza
These are Soviet soldiers, whose name is associated with a monument to the warrior-liberator. According to information from various sources, the sculptor attracted more people to this work than two famous soldiers. Experts believe that this does not contradict the facts, since the sculpture was created for more than one year.
In Berlin, for a year and a half, IS Odarchenko, who served in the Berlin commandant's office, posed for the sculptor. Vuchetich met him during sports competitions and attracted him to work. The girl that the soldier held for many hours in his arms was the daughter of the commandant of Berlin, Kotikova Svetlana.
An interesting fact is that after the opening of the memorial, Ivan Odarchenko repeatedly stood guard of honor at the figure of the hero. Attentive visitors noted the similarity, but Ivan tried not to talk about it. He returned to Tambov, where he lived until the age of 86. Passed away in 2013.
B. M. Gunaza also posed for the sculptor in 1945, in the Austrian city where his unit was quartered.
Memorial complex
At the entrance to the complex there are symbolic gates. These are banners made of red granite, half-masted as a sign of sorrow. Nearby are two kneeling figures of fighters, a young and an elderly, who pay tribute to the memory of their fallen comrades in arms.
The sculpture "Grieving Mother" evokes a burning feeling of compassion. A woman sits, pressing her hand to her heart and leaning on a pedestal. She really needs some kind of support right now so thatexperience terrible grief. An alley of Russian birches leads to the mass graves. The monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator in Berlin is the dominant feature of the memorial.
Alley - a solemn place in the center of which are the burial places of seven thousand soldiers in five mass graves. Along the alley there are marble cubes that tell about the heroism of the warriors. In post-war Berlin, stone dismantled from the city's administrative buildings was used to make these symbolic sarcophagi.
The pedestal of the central sculpture
A wide staircase leads to the monument to the Soviet liberator, as its pedestal is set on a high man-made mound. Inside is a memory room. Its walls are decorated with mosaic paintings showing Soviet soldiers of different nationalities laying wreaths on the graves of their fallen comrades.
A quote from I. V. Stalin about the feat of the Soviet people is immortalized on the walls. And in the center of the hall on a black cube is a book with the names of all the soldiers and officers who fell near Berlin.
On the ceiling is a huge chandelier made in the form of the Order of Victory. Rock crystal and rubies of the highest quality were used for its manufacture.
Opening of the memorial
Four years after the end of the war, a monument to Soviet soldiers was unveiled in Treptow Park. This event took place on May 8, on the eve of Victory Day. The park, which was a resting place for citizens before the war, again became the most visited place. The inhabitants of the GDR treated the complex located here with care.
Immediately, a bilateral indefinite contract was concluded, according to which the city authoritiesmust maintain order and carry out restoration work on the territory of the complex. Besides, they were not allowed to change anything.
The park itself was gradually restored. In the fifties, a rose garden and a sunflower garden appeared here.
Commemorative events of the complex
As mentioned earlier, in the days of the GDR, various events dedicated to the liberation activities of the USSR were often held on the territory of the complex. Now it is very clean and not crowded. The townspeople who come here walk in another part of the park, only occasionally looking at the monument to the soldiers of the Soviet army.
More often you can see tourist groups here, travelers from the countries of the former Soviet Union are especially eager to get here. Members of anti-fascist organizations in Germany also hold their meetings here.
Of course, before the Victory Day, the complex is still crowded. The tradition of laying wreaths is observed by representatives of embassies, city authorities and simply caring people.
Return after restoration
In 2003, the monument to Soviet soldiers in Germany was sent for restoration work. During the half century that he stood at the top of the mound, clutching the rescued girl to his chest, the material was worn out and required repair. The figure was disassembled into 35 parts and sent to the island of Rügen to Metallbau GmbH. In addition to restoring the surface of the stone, a metal frame was made, which was installed inside the monument. During the restoration, they usedNewest technologies. The monument was handled professionally and carefully. The pedestal was also reinforced with a steel frame. In its place, the monument floated on the water, like many years ago from Leningrad.
Restoration work was also carried out in Treptow Park itself at that time: stone slabs were updated, the lining of structures was changed. 200 poplars were planted on the central alley leading to the monument.
Memorials and modern Germany
Reconstruction of the monument cost the national budget 2.5 million euros. The city authorities believe that this monument, like other monuments to Soviet soldiers, is important for the capital of Germany. They remind that Soviet soldiers saved German soil from fascism.
Now any tourist who has visited the memorial in Treptow Park can take a photo of the monument to Soviet soldiers after the update.
