Soviet Memorial (Dresden)

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Soviet memorial in Dresden, photo from 1947 by Abraham Pisarek

The Soviet War Memorial in Dresden is a 1945 Resulting memorial for the Second World War fallen soldiers of the Red Army . Today it is located in Dresden's Albertstadt and is a listed building.

history

The memorial was created by the German sculptor Otto Rost as a memorial for the Soviet fallen soldiers of the 5th Guard Army immediately after the end of the war in 1945 and was inaugurated on November 25, 1945. It was the first monument erected on German soil for Soviet soldiers after the Second World War. The client was the Soviet military administration , the contractor was the Dresden art foundry Pirner & Franz .

The original location of the monument was on Albertplatz (1945–1946 Red Army Square, 1946–1990 Unity Square) in Dresden's Neustadt district. The basin of the stormy waves fountain by Robert Diez, which was damaged in the air raid, was used as the foundation . Regular public memorial events with wreath-laying ceremonies took place at this memorial until 1989.

After 1990 the city of Dresden decided to restore the fountain on Albertplatz according to the historical model and to move the Soviet memorial to a different location. The south side of Albertplatz and the Soviet garrison cemetery were discussed as alternative locations . After approval of the project by the monument authority of the regional council, it was moved to Olbrichtplatz near the Military History Museum in early 1994 . After its reconstruction, the memorial found its new place there in April 1994. A memorial plaque on Albertplatz reminds us that the memorial originally stood there.

layout

Soviet memorial at its new location on Olbrichtplatz (2007)
Memorial plaque at the old location on Albertplatz

The monument consists of an obelisk-like base made of red Meissen granite . On top of it is a bronze group depicting two Soviet soldiers with weapons and a flag. One of them is holding the Soviet banner in his left hand, the second is kneeling behind it with a machine gun at the ready.

On the base there are various Soviet decorations such as hammer and sickle , Soviet star , laurel and sword, and a rifle. There are also four bronze plaques showing soldiers of the Red Army with waving flags, military battle scenes and a representation of the temporary reconstruction of the Augustus Bridge.

An inscription in Russian names the words: Eternal glory to the fighters of the Red Army who fell in the battles against the German fascist conquerors for the freedom and independence of the Soviet homeland.

literature

Web links

Commons : Soviet War Memorial Dresden  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cultural monuments on the Dresden themed city map. Retrieved April 5, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Dresden City Lexicon. A – Z. 1994, p. 115.
  3. ↑ Gerd Göttermann: Formguss Dresden GmbH / Company / The Hoffmann GmbH Dresden introduces itself on the page formguss-dresden.de of the successor company of Pirner & Franz in the Mügelner Straße 18
  4. ↑ Now the Russian monument has to give way to stormy waves. In: Sächsische Zeitung , January 6, 1994.
  5. ↑ Simone Simpson: Between cultural mandate and artistic autonomy. Dresden sculpture of the 1950s and 1960s (= Dresden historical studies. Vol. 7). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20101-2 , pp. 78-81.
  6. ^ Soviet Memorial Dresden - accessed on May 23, 2013

Coordinates: 51 ° 4 ′ 36.2 "  N , 13 ° 45 ′ 28.2"  E