WW2 Russian mass-grave in Berlin

Hello photo lovers,

I was wandering around Berlin looking for a nice sunset spot when I came across this big gate.And when I looked closer I saw that this was some kind of monument. And because it was open I decided to go inside.

This was not a memorial, this was a Russian cemetery. It is called Schönholzer Heide and it is the biggest Russian cemetery outside Russia. There are 13000 Russian soldiers buried here that all have died during the battle of Berlin in April and May of 1945.

Right after the entrance there were these bronze carvings and they tel the whole story. The sun was already setting and I wanted to capture the golden color of the sun on the monument.

Inside the gates there was a nice tree lane and the stairs and pavement made it look very tranquil.

The soldiers were all buried in mass graves. These bronze memorial plates were above the graves that surrounded the whole park. They hold the names of 2647 of the fallen soldiers. The rest of the 13000 soldiers who were buried here were not identified. And I think that is unbelievable.

So many families that have now idea were there loved once are. It's incredible to realize that.

At the end there is a big obelisk with some Russian texst on it.

The view from the back to the front

Inside the obelisk there is space to put the flower wreaths that they used for the memorial services.

A close up of a plate with the Russian names. I wanted to capture the reflection of the last sun ray's in the memorial.

It was very impressive to walk around here, realizing so many people had died in just those two months. Probably not even all of the soldiers that were killed in Berlin are buried here. And that so many soldiers were not even identified is really mind blowing.

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