Can’t believe it’s almost six years ago we enjoyed an excellent stay in Berlin. We fully intend to return at some point. When finances allow that is.
Having just finished reading the harrowing account of the Soviet Armed forces liberation of East Berlin (“A Woman In Berlin”) and after watching, the frivolous, by comparison, movie “Unknown”, which is also set in the city, I decided to have a late night look back through the pictures we took of the German capital.
It’s a fascinating city with much to look at historically and architecturally and one of our highlights was our visit to the Sowjetische Ehrenmal, located in Treptower Park, just a few hundred meters away from the Brandenburg Gate.
The Sowjetische Ehrenmal is a memorial to the 20,000 Soviet soldiers killed in the Battle of Berlin (April and May 1945). The memorial, which is said to have been built by order of Stalin, covers 120,000 square meters and took four years to complete. This very striking piece of architecture (my pictures cover just the south eastern entrance to the memorial) was opened to the public on May 8, 1949, the fifth anniversary of the battle.
Not only was Stalin’s “gift” one to the surviving soldiers and the families of the fallen, but also a remainder to the East German population just who had liberated/conquered them.
