The soviet war memorial was built to commemorate the Russian soldiers who fought in the Battle of Berlin in 1945.

It was opened in 1949; it covers a vast array of land and is located in the Treptower Park, in central-east Berlin.

Entrances to the memorial site are marked with triumphal arches. One enters the site from the side.

Upon entrance appears a monument of a kneeling woman, representing the motherland. The statue is turned to the east, where the main site lays.

To get to the statue one passes through a large gate made out of red stone, with two soldiers kneeling on each side of the entrance.

After passing the gate a view of the main site appears.

The centerpiece of the Soviet War Memorial site is a huge sculpture of a soviet soldier protecting a German child, stepping over a swastika.

On both sides of the Berlin War Memorial there are big stones on which a history of the war is told in sculpture and in words (Russian on the one side and German on the other)

Under the main statue of the soviet soldier, inside a pedestal there is an altar an a mosaic. Flowers are laid in this room during official occasions and by passing tourists.

The building became a staple during the times of East Germany was not destroyed after the fall of the Berlin wall, even though for some it was a symbol of the Russian oppression.

In the early 1990’s, not long before the fall the Berlin Wall the monument was vandalized, allegedly by neo-nazis. This spurred a large demonstration (around 250.000 people) against the right wing extremism. After the reunification of Germany, the new government pledged to take care of all soviet war monuments, including the ones in Berlin