Cartoni militari al Memoriale e cimitero della guerra sovietica per i soldati morti nella seconda guerra mondiale, Schönholzer Heide, Niederschönhausen, Pankow, Berlino, Germania
Military Cartouches at Soviet War Memorial & Cemetery for soldiers who died in WWll, Schönholzer Heide, Niederschönhausen, Pankow, Berlin, Germany The memorial was erected between May 1947 and November 1949 and contains the largest Russian Cemetery in Europe outside Russia. It was designed by a group of Soviet architects consisting of Konstantin Solovyov, M. Belarnsev, W D. Korolyev and the sculptor Ivan Pershutchev. The memorial is accessed from Germanenstrasse where two granite columns decorated with wreaths and bronze bowls containing a sculpted eternal flame lead to an avenue of Linden trees and the main entrance of the memorial. Two Granite towers stand at the entrance and these are decorated with bronze reliefs depicting the Soviet people in combat and in mourning. On the walls adjacent to the towers, there are cartouches representing the coats of arms of the various Soviet armed forces. Inside each granite tower, an empty urn stands beneath a colourful skylight displaying the coat of arms of the Soviet Union and the walls carry Stalin quotes in German & Russian. The cemetery was planned to bury 13 200 Of the 80 000 soldiers who died in the Battle of Britain and the wall around the memorial houses 100 bronze tablets where the names, ranks and birth dates of the soldiers are recorded. There are 8 burial chambers on either side of the main axis where 1182 soldiers are buried and two Soviet colonels are buried under the Honour Hall inside the obelisk. The base displays 42 bronze tablets on which the names of fallen officers are inscribed. In front of the obelisk, there is a statue representing a mourning Mother Russia and dead son. Schönholzer Heide was a popular recreation area in the 19th century and during the Second World War the area was turned into a work camp for forced labourers. The memorial was built after the war as were with the Soviet memorials in Treptower Park and Tiergarten.
