News and society

Monument to the Unknown Soldier (Moscow)

August 5, 2014

The Second World War for our country still remains the most tragic and great event in our history. The memory of those who died during these years is immortalized in many monuments that are located in all cities of Russia. A lot of unidentified soldiers were buried during the war. To honor their feat, a monument to the Unknown Soldier is erected on such graves. There is such a memorial in Moscow - in the Alexander Garden near the Kremlin wall.

The significance of such monuments

All over the world, monuments to those killed in war are erected so that people remember why soldiers gave their lives. Soldiers' graves are often unmarked, and people have not previously visited them to honor their memory. But after one of the bloodiest wars - the First World War - a tradition was formed to perpetuate the memory of such warriors in monuments. They are usually installed at the burial site. This is how descendants express their gratitude and respect to the soldiers who died in battle. The first monument to the Unknown Soldier was erected in Paris in November 1920. Something similar was created in Russia at the same time, however, this memorial symbolized the memory of the heroes who died for the revolution.

History of the monument to the unknown soldier

In the Soviet Union, large-scale celebrations of victory in the Great Patriotic War began only in 1965. At this time, our capital, like many other cities, was awarded the status of a hero city, and May 9 became a national holiday. On the eve of the anniversary of the great battle for Moscow, the government of the country thought about how to create a monument that could perpetuate the feat of the city’s defenders. It was supposed to be a memorial of national importance. Therefore, we settled on erecting a monument to the unknown soldier.

Moscow was an ideal place for this, because thousands of soldiers died in the battles for the city, and many of them were not identified. A competition was announced to create the monument. The project of the architect V. A. Klimov was recognized as the best. He believed that such a monument must be located in a park so that a person could sit next to it and think. The best place for it was chosen near the Kremlin wall - a symbol of Russia's invincibility. And in 1966, work began on the monument. It was created by architects V.A. Klimov, D. I. Burdin and Yu. R. Rabaev. The most famous writers and poets were invited to create the inscription on the monument. The words of S. Mikhalkov were recognized as the best: “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal.” The grand opening of the monument took place on the eve of Victory Day in 1967. In subsequent years, it was repeatedly supplemented with new elements and restored. To this day, the Monument to the Unknown Soldier remains a symbol of victory in the Great Patriotic War.

How the warrior's ashes were buried

Before creating the memorial, we thought for a long time about who to bury in the grave under the monument. After all, it must be an unidentified warrior who died in the battles for Moscow. And in 1966, forty kilometers from the city, in Zelenograd, a mass grave was discovered. They chose a soldier who was wearing a well-preserved uniform. Experts guaranteed that he was not a deserter, otherwise he would not have been wearing a belt. This warrior could not have been captured, since there was no fascist occupation in this place. On December 2, the soldier was transferred to a coffin covered with St. George's ribbon. A wartime soldier's helmet was placed on the lid. Until the morning, young soldiers and war veterans stood next to him in a guard of honor. On the morning of December 3, the coffin was taken to Moscow along the Leningradskoye Highway as part of a funeral procession. In front of the Alexander Garden, the coffin was placed on an artillery carriage. The entire procession was accompanied by a guard of honor; alongside, to the sounds of a funeral march, war veterans walked and carried unfurled military banners.

How the monument was created

After the burial of the ashes of the unknown soldier - a month later - they began to create the memorial itself. At that time it looked different than it does now, and then the composition was supplemented several times. At first, the memorial was a granite slab with the words of S. Mikhalkov, a tombstone over the grave and a bronze star with the Eternal Flame. A granite wall was made next to the monument, on which the names of all the hero cities are immortalized. The opening of the monument took place in a solemn atmosphere: the national anthem was performed and fireworks thundered. The Eternal Flame, which was brought from the Champ de Mars in Leningrad, was also lit. The memorial was supplemented in 1975 with a bronze composition - a soldier's helmet on an unfurled banner.

What is the monument like now?

Modern youth may not even be able to answer what kind of monument this is and what its significance is. But this war still remains the Great Patriotic War for most people, and to this day the monument to the unknown soldier is a place for laying wreaths on holidays, and is visited by foreign delegations. There are always people around him who came to honor the memory of the dead. Since 1997, Post No. 1 has been located next to the monument. Soldiers of the Presidential Regiment replace each other every hour. In 2009, reconstruction of the complex began. At this time, the Eternal Flame was moved to Poklonnaya Hill, and after the opening of the updated monument in 2010, it was returned back. During the restoration, a ten-meter stele was added to the memorial, perpetuating the memory of the cities of military glory.

Description of the monument to the unknown soldier

The memorial is located in the Alexander Garden under the Kremlin wall. Every person who comes to Moscow considers it his duty to visit the monument to the unknown soldier. Photos of him can be found in all books dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, in newspapers and on the Internet. But it's still better to see it in reality. The composition is made of shiny red granite and black labradorite. On the tombstone there is a bronze soldier's helmet lying on an unfurled banner. In the center of a square of mirror-polished black stone is a bronze star. The Eternal Flame bursts out of it. On the right lies a low stele 10 meters long, on which are engraved the names of cities of military glory. And the memory of the city’s heroes is immortalized on a granite alley made of crimson quartzite.

This memorial is known all over the world and is now one of the landmarks of Moscow. People come here not only on Victory Day, but simply to honor the memory of the fallen and pay tribute to the feat of the defenders of the Motherland.

20 years ago 19 year old warrior Evgenia Rodionova The militants beheaded him for refusing to take off his Orthodox cross. This happened on May 23, 1996 in Chechnya in the village of Bamut.

A few months after the execution, Zhenya’s mother, Lyubov Vasilievna, met face to face with her son’s killer, field commander R. Khaikhoroev. “You raised a greyhound son! — the militant told her in the presence of an OSCE representative. — He tried to escape twice. We suggested that he take off the cross, accept our faith and fight against the feds. He refused. We kill these people. If you come again, you’ll be finished, don’t tempt fate!”

What did the militants expect?

Zhenya’s mother tested her fate during the entire 9 months, during which she traveled to more than 70 villages and mountain villages in search of her son: “Since then, I know Chechnya better than our village of Kurilovo near Moscow,” says AiF. Lyubov Vasilievna Rodionova.

Yevgeny Rodionov was captured in February 1996 when their checkpoint was attacked by militants. The bandits traveled in an ambulance. In addition to Zhenya, three more fellow soldiers were captured - ml. sergeant Andrey Trusov, privates Alexander Zheleznov And Igor Yakovlev. Traces of the unequal struggle (there were many times more militants) will remain in the snow even after a week, and Lyubov Vasilievna will see them with her own eyes. And in the seventh month of searching he will hear: “Your son is dead. Look for him in Bamut...” Lyubov Vasilievna finds out that both Zhenya and three of his fellow soldiers refused to send a ransom request to their relatives - they understood that their parents did not have that kind of money. They were held captive for three months and tortured, but the militants were unable to break any of the boys.

Lyubov Rodionova dug up the remains of her son with her own hands, and before that she went 17 times to negotiate with Zhenya’s killer so that he would indicate the exact location. Khaikhoroev constantly put forward new demands. The decisive factor was the money that Lyubov Vasilievna paid to the militants by mortgaging the apartment. “I swore silence to the bandits. Keep silent about the fact that a ransom was paid, that the bodies of the executed guys lay unburied for two weeks. Maskhadov issued an order not to hand over the mutilated bodies of our soldiers until it was impossible to identify traces of the militants’ atrocities. They wanted to look before the OSCE and in the eyes of the world media not as executioners, but as warriors. They waited for time to hide the traces of the crime and they would be able to say that Zhenya and three of his fellow soldiers, Andrei, Alexander and Igor, died during the bombing of the federals. I couldn't keep quiet about it...

There was a cross on Zhenya’s chest, which they didn’t dare take off from him even when he was dead. Zhenya has worn this cross since he was 11 years old. “Then my son returned from vacation from his grandmother with a cross on his chest. He said that he went to church, confessed, took communion. I convinced him to take off the cross, saying that they would laugh at him. We baptized him a little over a year ago, but I didn’t take him to church because I wasn’t a churchgoer. But Zhenya behaved very firmly then. He wore a cross on a string, not taking it off even during sambo training.

When I brought Zhenya to our village, it was evening. All those who knew him gathered. And at night I was left alone with him. And I couldn’t stop talking. “I’ve been looking for him for so long,” continues Lyubov Vasilievna. - I remembered a lot. We moved to a separate two-room apartment in 1994. Before that, we lived in a hostel, I worked three jobs, and left at 6 in the morning. Zhenya himself got up for school, returning home, preparing lunch. He matured early. He had an amazing ability to see beauty in ordinary things - he could walk past an autumn puddle, saying: “What do you see there? Dirt? And try to see the sky there.” From the army he sent me a poetic congratulation on my birthday:

I wish you a lot of happiness
May you live many years
May you always be young
And always be with me

How to touch hearts?

On the day of the funeral, I myself transferred my son from “zinc” to a wooden coffin. And five days later they buried Zhenya’s dad - Alexandra. He died on Zhenya’s grave - he put ten chocolates on it, hugged the ground and never got up again. We broke up with Sasha when Zhenya was 7 years old. She and her son loved each other and communicated. Now they are lying next to each other.

100 meters from the son’s grave is an ancient temple in honor of the Ascension of Christ; on the day of Zhenya’s death, May 23, 1996, the Church celebrated this very holiday - the Ascension. And it's also my son's birthday. On the day of his execution he turned 19 years old.

Near Bamut, at the place where we found the bodies of the children, Muslims helped us install an Orthodox cross with the words: “We want God to forgive us this innocent blood, to remove the curse from our village.” Everyone there knew the story of the captured guys.”

After the death of her son, Lyubov Vasilyevna visited Chechnya more than 60 times, and each time with a charitable cargo. “I brought first aid in November 1999. It was then that Mother’s Day was celebrated. I remember how cold the wind was when we handed mittens, socks, and blankets to the soldiers. Then I received a letter from these guys: “We will always remember that your gifts helped us survive this winter.” Is it possible to stop after this?

Lyubov Vasilievna admits that she never ceases to be amazed at how many people’s hearts were touched by the fate of her son: “He accomplished so little during his lifetime. And so much after death. Thousands of people come to his son’s grave. Museums of Zhenya Rodionov are being created, books about him are being published in Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. Abroad they call him Evgeniy Russky. I was shocked by the incident when a veteran of the Great Patriotic War came to Zhenya’s grave and left his military awards as a sign of respect. Zhenya himself was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.”

We are talking with Lyubov Vasilievna at the cemetery. The inscription on the cross overshadowing the grave of her son reads: “Here lies the Russian soldier Yevgeny Rodionov, who defended the Fatherland and did not renounce Christ, executed near Bamut on May 23, 1996.” From the place where Zhenya rested, a breathtaking view of forests and fields opens up. “I love coming here—there’s a lot of sky here. But what will happen to the grave when I'm gone? An unkempt grave is considered ownerless, and others are buried there. We need a law that will make soldiers' graves inviolable throughout the country. Our sons, at the cost of their lives, preserved the integrity of the Russian Federation; will the state really not find the strength and means to take care of the 2 by 2 meter plots of land where the heroes are buried?”

The worship cross on the M4 highway is one of the popular signs of veneration of the warrior Eugene. Many honk as they drive by, as if saluting. And the soldier’s mother, looking back at the past 20 years, says: “All these years I’ve been trying to live in such a way that when we meet Zhenya in eternity, he won’t be ashamed of me.”

...On February 13, 1996, together with privates Andrei Trusov, Igor Yakovlev and Alexander Zheleznov, he took up a post on the Chechnya-Ingushetia section of the road. At night, a minibus with the sign “ambulance” drove up to their post. From there, fifteen healthy strongmen, armed to the teeth, jumped out under the control of the brigadier general of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Ruslan Khaikhoroev. The boys did not give up without a fight. There were traces of blood on the asphalt. Evgeniy’s colleagues, who were literally 200 meters from the road, clearly heard the cry: “HELP!!!” But for some reason all this did not make any impression on them. Many were asleep! After discovering their disappearance from the post, the soldiers were initially declared deserters. Police officers came to Rodionov’s mother’s house to look for her son after his disappearance. The version that the soldiers were captured was accepted after a detailed examination of the scene and the discovery of traces of blood and struggle.
...From the first day of the 100-day captivity, when they saw the Cross on Zhenya’s neck, the bandits tried to “break” him and force him to accept their faith. They wanted to force him to torture and kill soldiers like him - boys. Evgeny categorically refused. He was beaten. They kept saying: “Take off the Cross and you will live!!!” And these are not empty words. The gang leaders themselves later assured Lyubov Vasilievna (Evgeniy’s mother, who traveled throughout Chechnya during the war in search of her son after his disappearance): “If your son had become one of us, we would not have offended him.” Khaikhoroev invited the exhausted boys to convert to Islam and continue to fight on the side of the militants. All the prisoners refused. Evgeniy did not remove his pectoral cross, which was what the killers demanded.
…. near the village of Bamut, Chechnya. On May 23, 1996, Evgeniy just turned 19. He, along with the rest of the soldiers, was taken to the forest near Bamut. First they killed his friends, those with whom he was on his last border duty. Then for the last time they suggested: “Take off the Cross! We swear by Allah, you will live!!!” Evgeniy didn’t take it off. And then he was executed in cold blood - his head was cut off while he was alive - but they did not dare remove the Cross. Ruslan Khaikhoroev confessed to the murder. In the presence of a foreign OSCE representative, he said: “...He had a choice to stay alive. He could have changed his faith, but he did not want to take off the cross. I tried to run..."
... Soon after the capture, Evgeniy’s mother, Evgeniy Rodionov’s mother Lyubov Vasilievna, came to Chechnya to look for her son, who was believed to be a deserter. His commander informed her that he was a prisoner of war, but showed no concern for his fate. She contacted Basayev, who promised her to find her son in front of everyone, but when she left the village, Basayev’s brother caught up with her and brutally beat her half to death, breaking her spine. In the end, she was forced to pay the militants money to find out the burial place of her son. Evgeniy’s mother identified Evgeniy’s body by his cross. Later, the identification results were confirmed by an examination. Eugene's cross was found in the grave on his headless body, and later Eugene's mother gave it to the Church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhi, where it was kept in the altar for several years.
... Evgeny Rodionov was buried near the village of Satino-Russkoe, Podolsk district, Moscow region, near the Church of the Ascension of Christ. However, the soldier's mother will again go to her son's killer and say: "Bring back your son's head." He will laugh and leave, and after a while he will bring her several pieces of the skull. The superstitious mountaineer was afraid of him and the dead man and therefore smashed his severed head with the butt of a machine gun so that he would not be pursued in the next world...

...Incredible things began to happen in various parts of Russia. Back in 1997, I visited the then new rehabilitation Orthodox orphanage. There, one of the tramp girls told me about a certain soldier - “so tall, in a red cloak-tent”, who “called himself Eugene, took me by the hand and led me to church.” I was still surprised, there don’t seem to be red cloaks, then I gasped: “Yes, this is a martyr’s cloak!” Further - more. In many churches there were stories about the “Divine warrior in a fiery cloak,” helping captured soldiers in Chechnya find the path to freedom, showing them mines and tripwires... In the Burdenko hospital, wounded soldiers claimed that they knew a certain soldier Evgeniy, who was helping them, “ especially when pain sets in"... Many swear that they saw it on the icon when they were on an excursion to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Moreover, the prisoners also know the “warrior in the red cloak.” "He helps the weak, lifts up the broken..."

...In 1997, by order of the Church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhi, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, the book “New Martyr for Christ, Warrior Eugene” was published. And immediately a report came from priest Vadim Shklyarenko from Dnepropetrovsk that “the photograph on the cover of the book IS MYRRHUSING... Myrrh is light in color, with a slight smell of pine needles.” I myself felt the same unique tart aroma when, in the house of Lyubov Vasilievna, I venerated the icon of her son, Saint Warrior Eugene...

...They put a cross on the grave. The wooden one is the tallest in our entire village cemetery. The inscription was made: “Here lies the Russian soldier Yevgeny Rodionov, who defended the Fatherland and did not renounce the Cross.” People slip notes between the stones near the grave...

Yevgeny Rodionov, martyr for the cross....Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic: “My opinion about the death of the soldier Rodionov, who was killed by bandits, demanding to change his faith, is the heroic act of one person and the vile abomination of those who killed him.”

For many, Eugene has become a symbol of courage, honor and loyalty!

Prayer to the martyr Eugene (Archpriest Valentin Sidorov composed a service to the martyr warrior Eugene):

Passion-bearing Russian, warrior Eugene! Graciously accept our prayers offered to you with love and gratitude before your holy icon. Hear us, the weak and infirm, who worship your most luminous image with faith and love. Your fiery love for the Lord, loyalty to Him alone, your fearlessness in the face of torment gave you eternal life. You did not take the Cross off your chest for the sake of sowing temporary life. Your cross shone for all of us as a guiding star on the path of salvation. Do not leave us on this path, holy martyr Eugene, who pray to you with tears.

Evgeniy Rodionov iconPrayer to the martyr Evgeniy Rodionov, compiled by Hieromonk Varlaam (Yakunin) from the Altai Republic. Kontakion, tone 4:

You appeared to the astonishment of strength, imitating Christ’s patience even to death, you were not afraid of the Agarian torment, and you did not deny the Cross of the Lord, taking death from the tormentors like the cup of Christ; For this reason, we cry out to you: Holy Martyr Eugene, pray ever for us, O sufferer.

Dozens of churches contain portraits of Eugene (the portrait-icon on the altar door in the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul in the Znamenka estate near Peterhof was located around 2000 and was removed for an unknown reason around 2010-11; in Altai - in Aktash, Novoaltaisk , Zarinsk, etc.). Icons of the warrior Eugene the Russian are also painted in Serbia. In Ukraine, priest Vadim Shklyarenko from Dnepropetrovsk had the image of Yevgeny Rodionov streaming myrrh. “Miro is light in color, with a slight pine scent.” The image of Eugene streamed myrrh on November 20, 2002 in the church in the name of the holy martyr Eugene in Altai.

...And in Berlin on a holiday

Was erected to stand for centuries,

Monument to the Soviet soldier

With a rescued girl in her arms.

He stands as a symbol of our glory,

Like a beacon shining in the darkness.

This is him - a soldier of my state -

Protects peace throughout the world!

G. Rublev

On May 8, 1950, one of the most majestic symbols of the Great Victory was opened in Berlin's Treptow Park. The liberating warrior climbed to a height of many meters with a German girl in his arms. This 13-meter monument became epoch-making in its own way.

Millions of people visiting Berlin try to visit here to worship the great feat of the Soviet people. Not everyone knows that according to the original plan, in Treptow Park, where the ashes of more than 5 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers rest, there should have been a majestic figure of Comrade. Stalin. And this bronze idol was supposed to hold a globe in its hands. Like, “the whole world is in our hands.”

This is exactly what the first Soviet marshal, Kliment Voroshilov, imagined when he summoned the sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich immediately after the end of the Potsdam Conference of the Heads of the Allied Powers. But the front-line soldier, sculptor Vuchetich, prepared another option just in case - the pose should be an ordinary Russian soldier who tramped from the walls of Moscow to Berlin, saving a German girl. They say that the leader of all times and peoples, having looked at both proposed options, chose the second. And he only asked to replace the machine gun in the soldier’s hands with something more symbolic, for example, a sword. And so that he chops down the fascist swastika...

Why exactly the warrior and the girl? Evgeniy Vuchetich was familiar with the story of the feat of Sergeant Nikolai Masalov...

A few minutes before the start of a fierce attack on German positions, he suddenly heard, as if from underground, a child’s cry. Nikolai rushed to the commander: “I know how to find the child! Allow me!" And a second later he rushed to search. Crying came from under the bridge. However, it is better to give the floor to Masalov himself. Nikolai Ivanovich recalled this: “Under the bridge I saw a three-year-old girl sitting next to her murdered mother. The baby had blond hair that was slightly curly at the forehead. She kept tugging at her mother’s belt and calling: “Mutter, mutter!” There is no time to think here. I grab the girl and back again. And how she will scream! As I walk, I persuade her this way and that: shut up, they say, otherwise you will open me. Here the Nazis really started firing. Thanks to our guys - they helped us out and opened fire with all guns."

At this moment Nikolai was wounded in the leg. But he didn’t abandon the girl, he brought it to his people... And a few days later the sculptor Vuchetich appeared in the regiment, who made several sketches for his future sculpture...

This is the most common version that the historical prototype for the monument was soldier Nikolai Masalov (1921-2001). In 2003, a plaque was installed on the Potsdamer Bridge (Potsdamer Brücke) in Berlin in memory of the feat accomplished in this place.

The story is based primarily on the memoirs of Marshal Vasily Chuikov. The very fact of Masalov’s feat has been confirmed, but during the GDR times eyewitness accounts were collected about other similar cases throughout Berlin. There were several dozen of them. Before the assault, many residents remained in the city. The National Socialists did not allow the civilian population to leave, intending to defend the capital of the “Third Reich” to the last.

The names of the soldiers who posed for Vuchetich after the war are precisely known: Ivan Odarchenko and Viktor Gunaz. Odarchenko served in the Berlin commandant's office. The sculptor noticed him during a sports competition. After the opening of the memorial, Odarchenko happened to be on duty near the monument, and many visitors, who did not suspect anything, were surprised by the obvious portrait resemblance. By the way, at the beginning of work on the sculpture he was holding a German girl in his arms, but then she was replaced by the little daughter of the commandant of Berlin.

It is interesting that after the opening of the monument in Treptower Park, Ivan Odarchenko, who served in the Berlin commandant’s office, guarded the “bronze soldier” several times. People approached him, amazed at his resemblance to the liberating warrior. But modest Ivan never said that it was he who posed for the sculptor. And the fact that the original idea of ​​holding a German girl in his arms, in the end, had to be abandoned.

The prototype of the child was 3-year-old Svetochka, the daughter of the commandant of Berlin, General Kotikov. By the way, the sword was not at all contrived, but an exact copy of the sword of the Pskov prince Gabriel, who, together with Alexander Nevsky, fought against the “dog knights”.

It is interesting that the sword in the hands of the “Warrior-Liberator” has a connection with other famous monuments: it is implied that the sword in the hands of the soldier is the same sword that the worker gives to the warrior depicted on the monument “Rear to Front” (Magnitogorsk), and which then the Motherland raises it on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd.

The “Supreme Commander-in-Chief” is reminded by his numerous quotes carved on symbolic sarcophagi in Russian and German. After the reunification of Germany, some German politicians demanded their removal, citing crimes committed during the Stalinist dictatorship, but the entire complex, according to interstate agreements, is under state protection. No changes are allowed here without the consent of Russia.

Reading quotes from Stalin these days evokes mixed feelings and emotions, making us remember and think about the fate of millions of people in both Germany and the former Soviet Union who died during Stalin's times. But in this case, quotes should not be taken out of the general context; they are a document of history, necessary for its comprehension.

After the Battle of Berlin, the sports park near Treptower Allee became a soldiers' cemetery. Mass graves are located under the alleys of the memory park.

The work began when Berliners, not yet divided by the wall, were rebuilding their city brick by brick from the ruins. Vuchetich was helped by German engineers. The widow of one of them, Helga Köpfstein, recalls: much in this project seemed unusual to them.

Helga Köpfstein, tour guide: “We asked why the soldier was holding a sword rather than a machine gun? They explained to us that the sword is a symbol. A Russian soldier defeated the Teutonic knights on Lake Peipus, and a few centuries later he reached Berlin and defeated Hitler.”

60 German sculptors and 200 stonemasons were involved in the production of sculptural elements according to Vuchetich’s sketches, and a total of 1,200 workers took part in the construction of the memorial. They all received additional allowances and food. German workshops also produced bowls for the eternal flame and mosaics in the mausoleum under the sculpture of the liberating warrior.

Work on the memorial was carried out for 3 years by the architect J. Belopolsky and sculptor E. Vuchetich. Interestingly, granite from Hitler's Reich Chancellery was used for construction. The 13-meter figure of the Liberator Warrior was made in St. Petersburg and weighed 72 tons. It was transported to Berlin in parts by water. According to Vuchetich’s story, after one of the best German foundries carefully examined the sculpture made in Leningrad and made sure that everything was done flawlessly, he approached the sculpture, kissed its base and said: “Yes, this is a Russian miracle!”

In addition to the memorial in Treptower Park, monuments to Soviet soldiers were erected in two other places immediately after the war. About 2,000 fallen soldiers are buried in Tiergarten Park, located in central Berlin. In the Schönholzer Heide park in Berlin's Pankow district there are more than 13 thousand.

During the times of the GDR, the memorial complex in Treptower Park served as a venue for various kinds of official events and had the status of one of the most important state monuments. On August 31, 1994, a ceremonial roll call dedicated to the memory of the fallen and the withdrawal of Russian troops from a united Germany was attended by one thousand Russian and six hundred German soldiers, and the parade was hosted by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

The status of the monument and all Soviet military cemeteries is enshrined in a separate chapter of the treaty concluded between the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic and the victorious powers in World War II. According to this document, the memorial is guaranteed eternal status, and the German authorities are obliged to finance its maintenance and ensure its integrity and safety. Which is done in the best possible way.

It is impossible not to talk about the further fates of Nikolai Masalov and Ivan Odarchenko. After demobilization, Nikolai Ivanovich returned to his native village of Voznesenka, Tisulsky district, Kemerovo region. A unique case - his parents took four sons to the front and all four returned home victorious. Due to shell shock, Nikolai Ivanovich was unable to work on a tractor, and after moving to the city of Tyazhin, he got a job as a caretaker in a kindergarten. This is where journalists found him. 20 years after the end of the war, fame fell on Masalov, which, however, he treated with his characteristic modesty.

In 1969 he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Berlin. But when talking about his heroic deed, Nikolai Ivanovich never tired of emphasizing: what he did was no feat; many would have done the same in his place. That's how it was in life. When German Komsomol members decided to find out about the fate of the rescued girl, they received hundreds of letters describing similar cases. And the rescue of at least 45 boys and girls by Soviet soldiers has been documented. Today Nikolai Ivanovich Masalov is no longer alive...

But Ivan Odarchenko still lives in Tambov (information for 2007). He worked at a factory, then retired. He buried his wife, but the veteran has frequent guests – his daughter and granddaughter. And at parades dedicated to the Great Victory, Ivan Stepanovich was often invited to portray a liberating warrior with a girl in his arms... And on the 60th anniversary of the Victory, the Memory Train even brought an 80-year-old veteran and his comrades to Berlin.

Last year, a scandal erupted in Germany around monuments to Soviet liberating soldiers erected in Berlin's Treptower Park and Tiergarten. In connection with the latest events in Ukraine, journalists from popular German publications sent letters to the Bundestag demanding the dismantling of the legendary monuments.

One of the publications that signed the openly provocative petition was the newspaper Bild. Journalists write that Russian tanks have no place near the famous Brandenburg Gate. “As long as Russian troops threaten the security of a free and democratic Europe, we do not want to see a single Russian tank in the center of Berlin,” write angry media workers. In addition to the authors of Bild, this document was also signed by representatives of the Berliner Tageszeitung.

German journalists believe that Russian military units stationed near the Ukrainian border threaten the independence of a sovereign state. “For the first time since the end of the Cold War, Russia is trying to suppress a peaceful revolution in Eastern Europe by force,” write German journalists.

The scandalous document was sent to the Bundestag. By law, German authorities must review it within two weeks.

This statement by German journalists caused a storm of indignation among readers of Bild and Berliner Tageszeitung. Many believe that newspapermen are deliberately escalating the situation around the Ukrainian issue.

Over the course of sixty years, this monument has truly become an integral part of Berlin. It was on postage stamps and coins; during the GDR, probably half of the population of East Berlin was accepted as pioneers. In the nineties, after the unification of the country, Berliners from the west and east held anti-fascist rallies here.

And neo-Nazis more than once smashed marble slabs and painted swastikas on obelisks. But each time the walls were washed, and the broken slabs were replaced with new ones. The Soviet soldier in Treptover Park is one of the most well-kept monuments in Berlin. Germany spent about three million euros on its reconstruction. Some people were very annoyed by this.

Hans Georg Büchner, architect, former member of the Berlin Senate: “What is there to hide, in the early nineties we had one member of the Berlin Senate. When your troops were withdrawing from Germany, this figure shouted - let them take this monument with them. Now no one even remembers his name.”

A monument can be called a national monument if people go to it not only on Victory Day. Sixty years have changed Germany greatly, but it has not changed the way Germans view their history. Both in the old Gadeer guidebooks and on modern tourist sites, this is a monument to the “Soviet soldier-liberator.” To a simple man who came to Europe in peace.

Evgeny Aleksandrovich Rodionov was born on May 23, 1977 in the village of Chibirley, Kuznetsk district, Penza region. His parents worked in furniture production. The boy did not walk for a long time; he only walked when he was one year and two months old, after he was baptized. But he began wearing a pectoral cross only at the age of 12 at the insistence of his grandmother. From then on, I began going to church - to the Trinity Cathedral in Podolsk (by that time the family lived in the Moscow region). After graduating from nine classes of a comprehensive school in the village of Kurilovo, Podolsk district, Moscow region, Zhenya, like his parents, got a job at a furniture factory. He worked as an assembler, upholsterer, cutter, and then learned to be a driver. Captivity and execution. On June 25, 1995, 18-year-old Rodionov was drafted into the army. First, he ended up in the training unit of military training unit No. 2631 of the Russian Border Troops near Kaliningrad. After that, he served as a grenade launcher at the 3rd border outpost of the 3rd motorized maneuver group of the 479th special purpose border detachment on the border of Ingushetia and Chechnya. On January 13, 1996, Evgeniy was sent for combat training to the Nazran border detachment. On February 4, 1996, he was on duty together with privates Andrei Trusov, Igor Yakovlev and Alexander Zheleznov. The military stopped a minibus with the sign “Ambulance”, in which Brigadier General of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Ruslan Khaikhoroev was traveling with his militants. It turned out that weapons were transported in the car. During an attempt to inspect the border guards, they were captured. At first, the missing soldiers were declared deserters. The police were looking for Rodionov at his parents’ home. And only after a detailed examination of the scene, when traces of blood and struggle were discovered, was the version of captivity accepted. Evgenia's mother Lyubov Vasilievna went to Chechnya to search for her son. She managed to reach Shamil Basayev, but after trying to negotiate, she was severely beaten and held hostage for three days. Only when Lyubov Rodionova paid the militants a large sum of money - about 4 thousand dollars (for this she had to sell her apartment and all valuables) - was she told about the fate of her son and indicated the place of his burial. As it turned out, Yevgeny Rodionov was executed by Chechen militants. He and his comrades were brutally tortured for a hundred days, demanding to convert to Islam. However, Zhenya refused to remove the Orthodox cross. On May 23, 1996, his own birthday, he was beheaded. The corpse of Yevgeny Rodionov, found in a grave without a head, was identified by his mother by his body cross. An examination later confirmed the identification results. Warrior in a fiery cloak. Evgeny was buried near the village of Satino-Russkoye settlement of Shchapovskoye (now the Trinity administrative district of Moscow), near the Church of the Ascension of Christ. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. At the end of 2003, the committee “For the Moral Revival of the Fatherland” made a proposal to canonize Yevgeny Rodionov. However, the Synodal Commission for Canonization of the Russian Orthodox Church came to the conclusion that all information about Rodionov’s martyrdom was recorded only from the words of his mother, who herself was not present. She also could not confirm with certainty that her son was forced to renounce Christ. The issue of canonization has not yet been resolved, although many influential people have approached Patriarch Kirill on this matter. Now Evgeniy is remembered as a martyr - Evgeniy the Warrior. Dozens of churches, including the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, contain his icons. There he is most often depicted wearing a red cape, similar to a cloak-tent. Several times people talked about a “divine warrior in a fiery cloak” who saved captured soldiers in Chechnya and showed where mines and tripwires were. Wounded servicemen from the Burdenko hospital also claimed that a certain soldier Evgeniy helped them, “especially when the pain came.” He was allegedly seen in prisons. “He helps the weakest, lifts up the broken,” the prisoners recalled. On September 25, 2010, in Yevgeny Rodionov’s hometown of Kuznetsk, on the territory of school No. 4, which bears his name, a monument to the executed soldier was erected: the flame of a bronze candle encircles his figure, a halo around his head, and an eight-pointed cross in his hands.