75 years ago, on June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. The victory in it became the greatest test and the greatest pride for our people. The memory of fallen soldiers, home front workers and civilians is immortalized in numerous memorials on the territory of our country. Today you can visit each of these memorials, lay flowers and remember your heroes, who are in every Russian family.
1. Monument-ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad", Mamaev Kurgan, Volgograd. This is perhaps the most famous memorial dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, majestic and symbolic. It was built for 8.5 years: from 1959 to 1967. The chief architect is Evgeny Vuchetich.
200 steps lead from the foot to the top of the mound. This number was not chosen by chance: it was how many days the Battle of Stalingrad lasted, which put an end to the offensive of the Nazi troops. The center of the memorial is the sculpture "The Motherland Calls!" - for many years it was the tallest statue in the world: the height is 52 meters. This is 1.5 times the size of the Statue of Liberty in New York. "Motherland" is a unique engineering structure made of iron and concrete, with thin walls (25-30 cm), which maintains balance thanks to amazingly accurate calculations. In addition to it, the memorial complex includes the Square of those who stood to death, the Hall of Military Glory, the Square of Sorrow, and the Ruined Walls. When visiting the ruin walls and the Hall of Military Glory, you can hear the voice of the legendary Soviet announcer Yuri Levitan and sound fragments specially recorded for the memorial. In 1965, on Mamaev Kurgan, a capsule was laid for the participants in the war to descendants, which should be opened on May 9, 2045, on the day of the centenary of the Victory. Since 2014, Mamaev Kurgan has been a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
2. Museum-reserve "Prokhorovskoye field", Belgorod region, Prokhorovka settlement. On July 12, 1943, the vicinity of the Prokhorovka railway station became the site of the largest tank battle in history.
Aeronautics Federation of Belogorye / belaero.ru
More than 1,500 tanks of the Red Army and fascist invaders fought in it. This battle turned the tide of the Battle of Kursk and the war as a whole. In memory of the Battle of Prokhorovka, the Prokhorovka Field Museum-Reserve was created. An observation post has been reconstructed here, from which General Pavel Rotmistrov, commander of the 5th Guards Tank Army, gave orders. A memorial sign in the bend of the Psel River was erected in honor of the feat of Senior Lieutenant Pavel Shpetny. All nine people who were part of his platoon, while knocking out seven enemy tanks. In 2010, the museum of military glory "The Third Military Field of Russia" was opened in Prokhorovka. The main monument of the memorial is the 59-meter Belfry with a bell that strikes three times an hour, recalling the historical role of the three military fields: Kulikovsky, Borodinsky and Prokhorovsky. And the architectural dominant of the complex is the temple in the name of the holy supreme apostles Peter and Paul, on the walls of which the names of 7382 soldiers who died in these bloody battles are inscribed
3. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Moscow. The memorial was opened in May 1967 after the burial of the ashes of an unknown soldier who died in the battle for Moscow near the Kremlin wall.
Brian Jeffery Beggerly / flickr.com
The remains were transferred from the mass grave to 41 km of the Leningrad highway. The monument consists of a tombstone covered with a bronze battle banner, on which lie a soldier's helmet and a laurel branch. And in the center burns the Eternal Flame of Glory. He was brought in 1967 from the Champ de Mars. At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the fire was lit by Leonid Brezhnev, Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee, having received a torch from the hands of the legendary pilot Alexei Maresyev. Nearby is the inscription "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal." In 1997, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, a guard of honor was established at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And in 2014, the All-Russian Day of the Unknown Soldier appeared, which is celebrated on December 3.
4. Krivtsov memorial, Oryol region . At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, a stronghold of a group of fascist troops was located in the region. In 1942, the Bolkhov operation was carried out, with the bloodiest battle in the Krivtsovo-Chagodaevo-Gorodishche area.
After the offensive, the Soviet troops were able to advance 20 km, but then they stopped. This did not allow the enemy to transfer forces to the Battle of Stalingrad. During the Bolkhov operation, more than 21 thousand soldiers and officers were killed, and more than 47 thousand were injured. The Krivtsov Memorial is located in the "Valley of Death" - this is almost the official name of the valleys of the Oka and Zusha rivers. The memorial ensemble consists of two parts: a monument to the fallen soldiers, in the form of a 15-meter pyramid, and a square of mourning ceremonies with two mass graves, on which the monument "Eternal Flame of Glory" and a 9-meter obelisk are installed.
5. Murmansk "Alyosha" - a monument to "Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." It was founded in 1969 on the Zeleny Mys hill, where anti-aircraft batteries were located, which defended the city from air raids.
The Murmansk region is the only region where the enemy did not pass more than 30 km from the state border. And the most fierce fighting took place on the right bank of the Western Litsa River, later renamed the Valley of Glory. Alyosha's gaze is directed precisely there. Until now, there is no exact data on the number of deaths in the defense of the region. Murmansk "Alyosha" is the highest monument in Russia after Mamaev Kurgan. Its height together with the pedestal is 42.5 meters. The ensemble of the memorial includes the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Eternal Flame, a granite stele to the Defenders of the Arctic. Two capsules are immured at the foot of the monument - one with sea water from the site of the sinking of the ship "Fog", the second - with earth from the Valley of Glory and the battle area at the Verman line.
6. Rear to front, Magnitogorsk. This is the first part of a triptych of monuments, including "The Motherland Calls" in Volgograd and "Warrior-Liberator" in Berlin.
As conceived by the authors, the sword, forged by home front workers in the Urals, is raised by the Motherland on Mamaev Kurgan, and is already lowering it after the victory of the soldiers in Berlin. The monument is located on a hill, its height is 15 meters. In the center of the monument there are two figures - a warrior and a worker. The worker looks towards the metallurgical plant, and the warrior - to the west, where the hostilities took place. Nearby is an eternal flame. The monument was made in Leningrad, and then erected on a fortified hill in Magnitogorsk. Later on the granite trapezes were carved the names of the inhabitants of the city who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in World War II and who died - more than 14 thousand in all.
7. Monument to the Sailor and the Soldier, Sevastopol . A 40-meter monument with a difficult fate. The decision to build a memorial complex at Cape Khrustalny was made back in the 70s of the last century, but construction began only decades later.
Nanak26/flickr.com
Construction proceeded slowly, then it was mothballed, as the project was recognized as unsuccessful, and in the late 80s the possibility of dismantling the monument was seriously discussed. Subsequently, the supporters of the monument won, and money was allocated for the restoration, but it was not possible to complete the initially approved project. Now the monument to the Soldier and the Sailor is a must-visit place for tourist groups, although there are many of its critics among the locals.
8. Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow. For the first time in 1942, on the site of a hill between the Setun and Filka rivers, it was proposed to erect a monument to the national feat of 1812. However, in the difficult conditions of the Great Patriotic War, it was not possible to implement the project.
Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill
Subsequently, a sign was installed on Poklonnaya Hill promising that a monument to the Victory would appear on this site. A park was laid out around it, which also received a similar name. The construction of the memorial began in 1984, and was completed only 11 years later: the complex was inaugurated on May 9, 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the war. The ceremony was attended by the heads of 55 states. On the territory of Victory Park there are churches of three confessions (Orthodox, a mosque and a synagogue), which symbolize the multinationality of the liberators' army. The Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War has a unique collection, including 1.5 thousand volumes of the "Book of Memory" and its electronic counterpart, which record the fate of Soviet soldiers who defended their country from the Nazis. There is also an exhibition of military equipment in the park. Well, the center of the monument is the Victory Monument.
9. Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg . This is the largest burial place for the victims of World War II, in 186 mass graves about 420 thousand residents of besieged Leningrad who died of hunger, cold and disease, 70 thousand soldiers who fought heroically for the northern capital were buried.
Taryn/flickr.com
The grand opening of the memorial took place on May 9, 1960. The dominant feature of the ensemble is the monument "Motherland" with a granite stele on which Olga Bergholz's epitaph with the famous line "No one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten" is engraved. The poetess wrote this poem specifically for the opening of the Piskarevsky memorial. From "Motherland" there is a 300-meter alley, on which red roses are planted. It ends at the Eternal Flame. Here, at the Piskarevsky cemetery in the military museum, there is a diary of Tanya Savicheva.
10. Cranes, Saratov. Yuri Menyakin, the creator of the memorial complex in memory of the Saratov people who died in the war, was inspired by the song "Cranes" to the verses of Rasul Gamzatov.
Therefore, the main theme of the monument was bright memory and bright sadness. A wedge of 12 silvery cranes flying west symbolizes the souls of fallen soldiers. In the center of the monument there are three five-pointed stars covered with gold leaf, made by analogy with the highest award of the USSR - the Hero of the Soviet Union. Five flights of stairs lead to the monument, on which cities are carved, in the protection and liberation of which Saratov residents took part. The area around the complex is paved with paving stones. It symbolizes the beginning of the war, when the soldiers from the parade on Red Square went straight to the front.
The Victory Day of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (1945), and the official name is exactly this, is the most important holiday for all the inhabitants of our country. The significance of this day for all of us and future generations cannot be overestimated. The little that we can do for those who gave their lives for our future is to carefully preserve the memory of those who died for the Motherland, not to forget ourselves and tell children about these sad pages in the history of the 20th century. This goal - to perpetuate the memory of the fallen - is served by museums and monuments, which are many in Russia and abroad.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden
The Eternal Flame burns here and a guard of honor is on duty every day. During official events, wreaths are laid at the memorial by heads of state, and the rest of the time, newlyweds, who traditionally come here on their wedding day, bring flowers.
The central element of the memorial ensemble near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin is a niche with the inscription “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal”, in the center of which the Eternal Flame of Glory burns. Behind the niche is a tombstone with a bronze composition - a soldier's helmet and a laurel branch lying on a battle banner. To the left of the grave - a wall of crimson quartzite with the inscription: "1941 to those who fell for the Motherland 1945"; on the right - a granite alley with blocks of dark red porphyry. On each block there is the name of the hero city and a chased image of the Gold Star medal. The blocks contain capsules with the earth of hero cities. Next is a stele of red granite in honor of the cities of military glory, about 10 meters long.
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Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Great Victory in the west of Moscow, a large memorial complex was opened on an area of 135 hectares. The park itself was founded in 1958, but the architectural ensemble was built only by 1995. From the entrance stretched a wide alley "Years of War", decorated with five water cascades with 1418 fountains, according to the number of days that the war went on. In front of the building of the Central Museum of the Second World War stands the Victory Monument - an obelisk 141.8 meters high, at the foot of which is a statue of St. George the Victorious, who thrusts a spear into the body of a snake symbolizing fascism. The open-air exhibition of military equipment and weapons is of constant interest to park visitors. The park with neat paths, alleys and flower beds has become a favorite place for Muscovites and guests of the capital to walk.
Motherland
Monuments to war heroes are perhaps the only case when monumentality is justified. One of the highest monuments in the world - the main element of the ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd - the sculpture "The Motherland Calls!". The figure of a woman who raised her sword and took a step forward symbolizes the Motherland, calling her sons to fight the enemy. The remains of 34,505 soldiers - the defenders of Stalingrad - were reburied on the hill. From the foot of the mound to its top there are 200 granite steps - that is how many days the Battle of Stalingrad lasted.
Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd
Kursk Bulge
From July 5 to August 23, 1943, one of the most important battles of the Great Patriotic War lasted - the Battle of Kursk. The result of this bloody and tense battle was the transfer of the strategic initiative to the Red Army. A memorial complex near the villages of Yakovlevo and Pokrovka serves as a reminder of the 250,000 lives that sacrificed themselves. The 44-meter arched stele with reliefs symbolizes the front line; in front of it, a T-34 tank is mounted on a pink granite pedestal. The Arc de Triomphe topped with a statue of George the Victorious rises 24 meters above the ground. On both sides of the Eternal Flame lie the remains of unknown warriors.
Outside Russia
In the German capital, in memory of the Soviet soldiers who fell in the Berlin battle, memorials were erected in the Tiergarten, Schönholzer Haid and Treptow parks. There are sculptures of Soviet soldiers-liberators in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Ukraine. Granite stele to the participants of the Second World War from the countries of the former USSR is installed in Los Angeles. The Brest Fortress has been open to the public since 1971 and tells about the heroic defense of the fort - one of the first battles for the USSR. The tragic story of the mass destruction of civilians is told by the museum in Auschwitz. Among the millions of victims of this death camp were 100,000 Russian people.
Parade
Commemorative events will be held on May 9 in all cities of Russia, and in the capital, Red Square, of course, will become the central place of celebration. A solemn review of troops and military equipment will take place on the main square of the country. Since 1996, the parade in honor of May 9 has been held here annually, and on June 24, 1945, columns of the first Victory Parade passed through Red Square and 200 banners and standards of the defeated Nazi divisions were dragged along the paving stones and thrown to the foot of the Mausoleum.
To remember the feat of the Soviet people, who did not spare themselves in this bloody war, of course, it is not at all necessary to go somewhere. The main place of memory is our hearts. Eternal glory to the winners!
Happy Victory Day!
Few people know that one of the most famous and lofty Soviet sculptures - “The Motherland is Calling!”, Which is installed in Volgograd on Mamaev Kurgan, is only the second part of the composition, which consists of three elements at once. This triptych (a work of art, consisting of three parts and united by a common idea) also includes the monuments: "Rear to Front", which is installed in Magnitogorsk and "Warrior-Liberator", located in Treptow Park in Berlin. All three sculptures are united by one common element - the Sword of Victory.
Two of the three monuments of the triptych - "The Warrior-Liberator" and "The Motherland Calls!" - belong to the hand of one master, monumental sculptor Evgeny Viktorovich Vuchetich, who three times in his work addressed the theme of the sword. The third Vuchetich monument, which does not belong to this series, was installed in New York in front of the UN headquarters. The composition entitled "Let's beat swords into plowshares" shows us a worker who turns a sword into a plow. The sculpture itself was supposed to symbolize the desire of all the people of the world to fight for disarmament and the triumph of peace on Earth.
The first part of the trilogy "Rear to Front", located in Magnitogorsk, symbolizes the Soviet rear, which ensured the country's victory in that terrible war. In the sculpture, a worker hands over a sword to a Soviet soldier. It is understood that this is the Sword of Victory, which was forged and raised in the Urals, later it was raised by the "Motherland" in Stalingrad. The city in which there was a radical turning point in the war, and Nazi Germany suffered one of its most significant defeats. The third monument of the "Liberator Warrior" series lowers the Sword of Victory in the very lair of the enemy - in Berlin.
The reasons why Magnitogorsk was given such an honor - to become the first Russian city in which a monument to home front workers was erected, should not surprise anyone. According to statistics, every second tank and every third shell during the war years was fired from Magnitogorsk steel. Hence the symbolism of this monument - a worker of a defense plant, standing in the East, hands over a forged sword to a front-line soldier who is sent to the West. Where the trouble came from.
Later, this sword forged in the rear will lift up in Stalingrad on Mamaev Kurgan "Motherland". The place where the turning point in the war took place. And already at the end of the composition, the "Warrior-Liberator" will lower the sword on the swastika in the very center of Germany, in Berlin, completing the defeat of the fascist regime. A beautiful, concise and very logical composition that unites the three most famous Soviet monuments dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.
Despite the fact that the Sword of Victory began its journey in the Urals and ended it in Berlin, the triptych monuments were built in the reverse order. So the monument "Warrior-Liberator" was installed in Berlin in the spring of 1949, the construction of the monument "Motherland Calls!" ended in the fall of 1967. And the first monument of the Rear to the Front series was completed only in the summer of 1979.
"Rear - Front"
Monument "Rear - Front"
The authors of this monument were the sculptor Lev Golovnitsky and the architect Yakov Belopolsky. Two main materials were used to create the monument - granite and bronze. The height of the monument is 15 meters, while outwardly it looks much more impressive. This effect is created by the fact that the monument is located on a high hill. The central part of the monument is a composition that consists of two figures: a worker and a soldier. The worker is oriented to the east (in the direction where the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works was located), and the warrior looks to the west. Where the main fighting took place during the Great Patriotic War. The rest of the monument in Magnitogorsk is an eternal flame, which was made in the form of a flower star made of granite.
An artificial hill was erected on the bank of the river to install the monument, the height of which was 18 meters (the base of the hill was specially reinforced with reinforced concrete piles so that it could withstand the weight of the erected monument and not collapse over time). The monument was made in Leningrad, and in 1979 it was installed on the spot. The monument was also supplemented with two man-height trapeziums, on which the names of the inhabitants of Magnitogorsk, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war years, were listed. In 2005, another part of the monument was opened. This time the composition was supplemented with two triangles, on which you can read the names of all the inhabitants of Magnitogorsk who died during the hostilities in 1941-1945 (a little more than 14 thousand names are listed in total).
"Rear - Front"
Monument "Motherland is calling!"
Monument "Motherland is calling!" is located in the city of Volgograd and is the compositional center of the monument-ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad", which is located on Mamayev Kurgan. This statue is considered one of the highest on the planet. Today she ranks 11th in the Guinness Book of Records. At night, the monument is effectively illuminated by spotlights. This sculpture was designed by sculptor E. V. Vuchetich and engineer N. V. Nikitin. The sculpture on Mamaev Kurgan is a figure of a woman standing with a sword raised up. This monument is a collective allegorical image of the Motherland, which calls on everyone to unite in order to defeat the enemy.
Drawing some analogy, we can compare the statue "Motherland is calling!" with the ancient goddess of victory, Nike of Samothrace, who also called on her children to repel the forces of the invaders. Subsequently, the silhouette of the sculpture "Motherland is calling!" was placed on the emblem and flag of the Volgograd region. It is worth noting that the peak for the construction of the monument was created artificially. Prior to this, the highest point of the Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd was the territory, which was located 200 meters from the current peak. Currently, there is the Church of All Saints.
"Motherland is calling!"
The creation of the monument in Volgograd, excluding the pedestal, took 2,400 tons of metal structures and 5,500 tons of concrete. At the same time, the total height of the sculptural composition was 85 meters (according to other sources, 87 meters). Before starting the construction of the monument, a foundation was dug on Mamaev Kurgan for a statue 16 meters deep, and a two-meter slab was installed on this foundation. The height of the 8000-ton statue itself was 52 meters. In order to ensure the necessary rigidity of the frame of the statue, 99 metal cables were used, which are in constant tension. The thickness of the walls of the monument, made of reinforced concrete, does not exceed 30 cm, the inner surface of the monument consists of separate chambers that resemble the structures of a residential building.
Initially, the 33-meter sword, which weighed 14 tons, was made of stainless steel in a titanium sheath. But the huge size of the statue led to a strong swaying of the sword, this was especially noticeable in windy weather. As a result of such influences, the structure gradually deformed, the sheets of titanium plating began to shift, and when the structure swayed, an unpleasant metal rattle appeared. To eliminate this phenomenon, in 1972 the reconstruction of the monument was organized. In the course of the work, the blade of the sword was replaced with another one, which was made of fluorinated steel, with holes made in the upper part, which were supposed to reduce the effect of the windage of the structure.
"Motherland is calling!"
Once the main sculptor of the monument, Yevgeny Vuchetich, told Andrei Sakharov about his most famous sculpture, “The Motherland Calls!” “The bosses often asked me why a woman’s mouth was open, it’s ugly,” Vuchetich said. The famous sculptor answered this question: “And she screams - for the Motherland ... your mother!”
Monument "Warrior-Liberator"
On May 8, 1949, on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, a grand opening of a monument to Soviet soldiers who died during the storming of the German capital took place in Berlin. The Warrior-Liberator monument was erected in Berlin's Treptow Park. Its sculptor was E. V. Vuchetich, and the architect was Ya. B. Belopolsky. The monument was opened on May 8, 1949, the height of the warrior sculpture itself was 12 meters, its weight is 70 tons. This monument has become a symbol of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, it also personifies the liberation of all European peoples from fascism.
The sculpture of a soldier with a total weight of approximately 70 tons was made in the spring of 1949 in Leningrad at the Monumental Sculpture factory, it consisted of 6 parts, which were then transported to Germany. Work on the creation of the memorial complex in Berlin was completed in May 1949. On May 8, 1949, the memorial was solemnly opened by the Soviet commandant of Berlin, Major General A. G. Kotikov. In September 1949, all responsibilities for the care and maintenance of the monument were transferred by the Soviet military commandant's office to the magistrate of Greater Berlin.
"Warrior Liberator"
The centerpiece of the Berlin composition is a bronze figure of a Soviet soldier standing on the ruins of a Nazi swastika. In one of his hands he holds a lowered sword, and with the other hand he supports the rescued German girl. It is assumed that the real Soviet soldier Nikolai Maslov, a native of the village of Voznesenka, Tisulsky district, Kemerovo region, served as a prototype for this sculpture. During the storming of the German capital in April 1945, he saved a German girl. Vuchetich himself created the monument "Warrior - Liberator" from the Soviet paratrooper Ivan Odarenko from Tambov. And for the girl, 3-year-old Svetlana Kotikova, who was the daughter of the commandant of the Soviet sector of Berlin, posed for the sculpture. It is curious that on the sketch of the monument, the soldier held a machine gun in his free hand, but at the suggestion of Stalin, the sculptor Vuchetich replaced the machine gun with a sword.
The monument, like all three monuments of the triptych, is located on a mound, a staircase leads to the pedestal. Inside the pedestal is a round hall. Its walls were decorated with mosaic panels (author - artist A. V. Gorpenko). The panels depicted representatives of various peoples, including the peoples of Central Asia and the Caucasus, who lay wreaths at the grave of Soviet soldiers. Above their heads, in Russian and German, it is written: “Now everyone recognizes that the Soviet people, by their selfless struggle, saved the civilization of Europe from fascist pogromists. This is the great merit of the Soviet people to mankind. In the center of the hall was a cubic pedestal made of black polished stone, on which a golden casket with a parchment book in a red morocco binding was placed. The names of the heroes who fell in the battles for the German capital and were buried in mass graves were inscribed in this book. The dome of the hall was decorated with a chandelier with a diameter of 2.5 meters, which is made of crystal and rubies, the chandelier reproduces the Order of Victory.
"Warrior Liberator"
In the fall of 2003, the sculpture of the "Warrior-Liberator" was dismantled and sent for restoration work. In the spring of 2004, the restored monument returned to its rightful place. Today, this complex is the center of commemorative celebrations.
Sources of information:
http://ribalych.ru/2014/08/04/unikalnyj-triptix
http://www.pravda34.info/?page_id=1237
http://defendingrussia.ru/love/pamyatniki_pobedy
http://www.tgt.ru/menu-ver/encyclopedia/tourism/countries/dostoprimechatelnosti/dostoprimechatelnosti_155.html
https://en.wikipedia.org
13:11 - REGNUM
75 years ago, on June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. Victory in it became the greatest test and the greatest pride for Russia. The memory of fallen soldiers, home front workers and civilians is immortalized in numerous memorials throughout the country. Each of these memorials can be visited, laid flowers and remembered those who died in the Great Patriotic War.
Daria Antonova © IA REGNUM
1. Monument-ensemble "Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad", Mamaev Kurgan, Volgograd. The most famous memorial dedicated to the Great Patriotic War is majestic and symbolic. It was built for 8.5 years: from 1959 to 1967. The chief architect is Evgeny Vuchetich.
200 steps lead from the foot to the top of the mound. This number was not chosen by chance: it was how many days the Battle of Stalingrad lasted, which put an end to the offensive of the Nazi troops.
2. Museum-reserve "Prokhorovskoye field", Belgorod region, Prokhorovka settlement. On July 12, 1943, the vicinity of the Prokhorovka railway station became the site of the largest tank battle in history.
(cc) Galina Vanina
More than 1,500 tanks of the Red Army and the fascist invaders fought in the battle. This battle turned the tide of the Battle of Kursk and the war as a whole.
3. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Moscow. The memorial was opened in May 1967 after the burial of the ashes of an unknown soldier who died in the battle for Moscow near the Kremlin wall.
Daria Antonova © IA REGNUM
The remains were transferred from the mass grave to 41 km of the Leningrad highway. The eternal flame of glory was brought in 1967 from the Champ de Mars. At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the fire was lit by Leonid Brezhnev, Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee, having received a torch from the hands of the legendary pilot Alexei Maresyev.
Oryol Region. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, a stronghold of a group of fascist troops was located in the region. In 1942, the Bolkhov operation was carried out, with the bloodiest battle in the Krivtsovo-Chagodaevo-Gorodishche area.
After the offensive, the Soviet troops were able to advance 20 km, but then they stopped. This did not allow the enemy to transfer forces to the Battle of Stalingrad. During the Bolkhov operation, more than 21 thousand soldiers and officers were killed, and more than 47 thousand were injured.
5. Murmansk "Alyosha"- Monument to the Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. It was founded in 1969 on the Zeleny Mys hill, where anti-aircraft batteries were located, which defended the city from air raids.
(cc) Tara-Amingu
The Murmansk region is the only region where the enemy did not pass more than 30 km from the state border. And the most fierce fighting took place on the right bank of the Western Litsa River, later renamed the Valley of Glory. Alyosha's gaze is directed precisely there.
6. Rear - front, Magnitogorsk. This is the first part of a triptych of monuments, including "The Motherland Calls" in Volgograd and "Warrior-Liberator" in Berlin.
7. Monument to the Sailor and the Soldier, Sevastopol. A 40-meter monument with a difficult fate. The decision to build a memorial complex at Cape Khrustalny was made back in the 70s of the last century, but construction began only decades later.
(cc) Sergey Sekachev
Construction proceeded slowly, then it was mothballed, as the project was recognized as unsuccessful, and in the late 80s the possibility of dismantling the monument was seriously discussed. Subsequently, the supporters of the monument won, and money was allocated for the restoration, but it was not possible to complete the initially approved project. Now the monument to the Soldier and the Sailor is a must-visit place for tourist groups, although there are many of its critics among the locals.
Moscow city. For the first time in 1942, on the site of a hill between the Setun and Filka rivers, it was proposed to erect a monument to the national feat of 1812. However, in the difficult conditions of the Great Patriotic War, it was not possible to implement the project.
(cc) Aleksander Kaasik
Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill
Subsequently, a sign was installed on Poklonnaya Hill promising that a monument to the Victory would appear on this site. A park was laid out around it, which also received a similar name. The construction of the memorial began in 1984, and was completed only 11 years later: the complex was inaugurated on May 9, 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the war.
9. Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg. This is the largest burial place for the victims of World War II, in 186 mass graves about 420 thousand residents of besieged Leningrad who died of starvation, cold and disease, 70 thousand soldiers who fought heroically for the northern capital were buried.
(cc) George Arutunian
The grand opening of the memorial took place on May 9, 1960. The dominant feature of the ensemble is the monument "Motherland" with a granite stele on which Olga Bergholz's epitaph with the famous line "No one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten" is engraved. The poetess wrote this poem specifically for the opening of the Piskarevsky memorial.
G. Saratov. Yuri Menyakin, the creator of the memorial complex in memory of the Saratov people who died in the war, was inspired by the song "Cranes" to the verses of Rasul Gamzatov.
(cc) Alexey Ivanov
Therefore, the main theme of the monument was bright memory and bright sadness. A wedge of 12 silvery cranes flying west symbolizes the souls of fallen soldiers.
An overview of outstanding memorials dedicated to the Great Patriotic War is provided by the Federal Tourism Agency.
In different parts of Belarus, which lost every third inhabitant in 1941-1945, symbolic memorial complexes were created, monuments dedicated to the events of the most tragic and bloody war on this long-suffering land were erected.
Today there are about 9 thousand monuments and burial places in the country Great Patriotic War. They are included in military historical routes and excursions, but most importantly, they are holy place of veneration of the dead, an eternal reminder of how priceless world…
Minsk, Victory Square
Architectural and sculptural complex "Minsk - Hero City"
Stele "Minsk - Hero City", erected in 1985 in honor of 40th anniversary of the Great Victory, today is part of a grandiose ensemble. In 1974 Minsk received the title Hero cities for the courage and bravery of its inhabitants during fascist occupation which continued 1100 days and nights. Crowned by a 45-meter obelisk Hero Star, and at the foot there is an engraved text about conferring an honorary title on the city. The ensemble is complemented by a bronze sculpture of a woman with fanfare raised high - a symbol of Motherland. Today at the stele "Minsk-city-hero" a grandiose military parade and procession on the main state holiday -.
Minsk, Pobediteley Avenue
More than 5 thousand Belarusian villages were wiped off the face of the earth during Great Patriotic War. Among them and Dalva, June 19, 1944, repeating the tragic fate Khatyn. Today on this site there is a memorial to the memory of the dead, concrete crowns of log cabins and a small museum. The initiator of the creation of the complex, the person who devoted his whole life to it, was Nikolai Girilovich miraculously survived that tragic day. The rest of the villagers - 44 people, 29 of whom were children, were herded into one house and burned alive. The Nazis carried out a cruel punitive operation just 10 days before the arrival of the Red Army troops ...
Minsk region, Logoisk district
Minsk region, Smolevichi district
Minsk region
Brest
At the heart of a memorial dedicated to heroes-liberators of Pinsk – mass grave where the ashes of 244 soldiers rest, monument to armored boat BK-92 and symbolic sign, installed at the landing site of the Dnieper flotilla. The famous "Dot Molchanova": in 1944, the command post of the major was located here George Molchanov, who commanded the 1323rd Infantry Regiment. It was from here that the first message about the liberation of Pinsk came. Today, the interior of the legendary headquarters has been recreated, and in exposure you can see the plans of military operations, maps, a magazine in memory of soldiers ... After that, an open-air museum of military equipment appeared in the memorial complex.
Brest region, Pinsk
Mogilev
Memorial complex "Zemlyanka"
Huge guerrilla "dugout" concrete, and stele with a commemorative inscription appeared in 1982 at the 1st kilometer of the highway – Chausy. In these places at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War was headquarters of the Western Front. Here July 1, 1941 with the participation of marshals of the Soviet Union K. Voroshilov and B. Shaposhnikov, the first meeting was held on the protection and creation of underground detachments behind enemy lines. And a few days later it began, on the outskirts of which 23 days and nights stood 172nd(General M. Romanov) and 110th(Colonel V. Khlebtsev) rifle divisions 61st Rifle Corps of the 13th Army, other units of the Red Army advancing from the west, and people's militias who came to the defense of their native city.
Mogilev district
Memorial complex "In memory of the burned villages of the Mogilev region"
Memorial Ensemble in the village Borki Kirovsky district keeps the memory of the villages of Mogilev region burned during the Great Patriotic War. It so happened that there are hundreds of places that shared the fate of the infamous to the whole world in Belarus. The tragic stories of many of them formed the basis of the famous documentary book "I'm a fire weight" Belarusian authors Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl and Vladimir Kolesnik, who recorded for posterity the true story of more than 300 witnesses of those days ... In the bloody list and Borki, which went down in history as one of the most massive punitive operations of the war. On June 15, 1942, the Nazis burned the inhabitants of the village and the surrounding villages - a total of 1800 people ... Decades later, wall of memory and six plates with the names of destroyed settlements, bells and chapel in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Search for the Lost".
Mogilev region, Kirovsky district, village Borki
Memorial of Military Glory "Ludchitska Height"
symbolic figure guslar, glorifying the exploits of warriors, rises above a high earthen mound. As if frozen in the air, the eternal song of courage sings of the heroism and courage of the fallen soldiers. At the foot of the mound there is a wall-stele with six bas-reliefs of Heroes of the Soviet Union: Vladimir Martynov, Sundutkali Iskaliyev, Gulyam Yakubov, who gave their lives during the storming of the Ludchitska height in June 1944, as well as Ivan Borisevich, Pyotr Vinichenko and Galaktion Razmadze, who participated in the liberation of Bykhov land. Symbol of the memory of the war - Eternal flame- burns at the monument, and the names of the soldiers who fell in the battles for the heights are inscribed on the memorial near the mound of military glory ...
Mogilev region, Bykhov district
Dedicated to the soldiers and partisans who in June 1944 took part in the decisive stage of the liberation operation. The 40,000th German army grouping "Center" was defeated. In 1967, local residents immortalized the feat of the heroes-liberators in Mound of Glory, inside which capsules with earth from 70 mass graves are laid. A sculptural composition of two soldiers rises on an 18-meter pedestal, and next to it are 6 steles with statues of the fallen Heroes of the Soviet Union: Ivan Orel, Nikolai Kolodko, Alexander Chernysh, Mikhail Seleznev, Ivan Maslovsky and Nikolai Izyumov. In our time, the memorial was supplemented Gate of Glory and 13 memorial plaques in honor of the Heroes of the Soviet Union who died during the liberation of the region.
Mogilev region, Bobruisk district, village Sychkovo
Memorial complex "Victory Square" in Vitebsk
Memorial in honor of Soviet soldiers and partisans of the Vitebsk region, called by the townspeople "Three bayonets" located on the banks of the river Dvina in the heart of the city. Each of the three 56-meter bayonet obelisks is crowned with a cast relief - "Warriors", "Underground", "Partisans". The eternal flame, lit on the podium star, illuminates the inscription of the unifying inner ring of the monument - "Glory to the Heroes". In addition to the main memorial, the complex includes 2 large pools with fountains, 10 pylons and sculptural compositions depicting Soviet soldiers and civilians. In the Park of the Winners there is also Alley of military glory and exposition of military equipment of the Great Patriotic War.
On the banks of the Dnieper, a monument rises - a combat vehicle of rocket artillery BM-13, which the Soviet soldiers called "Katyusha". Its device and the stunning effect of a fiery whirlwind remained a secret for the Germans for many years. And it is in Orsha July 14, 1941 sounded first combat volleys "Katyusha": experimental battery of seven vehicles under the command of Captain I. Flerov struck at the enemy echelons at the railway station and positions at the river crossing. The memorial combines 6 "mortar launchers" made of concrete soaring skyward, and in the center on a pedestal is installed an exact copy of "Katyusha" model 1941. At the entrance to the complex there is a black cube with a commemorative inscription about the first blow of the famous weapon.
Vitebsk region, Orsha, st. Mogilevskaya
Memorial complex "Curse to fascism"
Vitebsk region, Dokshitsy district, village Shunevka
Memorial complex "Breakthrough"
The impressive complex was created on the site of the fascist blockade by partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel zone - one of the largest in occupied Belarus. Real partisan republic with its center in Ushachi existed since the autumn of 1942, and in the spring of 1944 the Germans threw 60 thousand punishers, aviation, tanks, artillery against 17 thousand partisans. And yet, on the tragic night of May 4-5, the partisans defeated the enemy, taking 16 thousand civilians out of the encirclement ... Hundreds of soldiers were buried in the mass grave of the Breakthrough, even more names were immortalized on the plates. Memorial opens bronze card defense, and then arrow road passes between huge boulders, indicating the direction of the main attack, where a fearless warrior "runs" with a machine gun in his hands. Nearby are 16 oaks as a symbol of the steadfastness of 16 partisan brigades. The memorial complex also includes a "partisan village" - a series of dugouts with wartime utensils - and an exposition of army equipment.
Vitebsk region, Ushachsky district, village Paperino
Memorial complex "Mound of Glory" in Gomel
Gomel "Mound of Glory" created in 1967 in honor of the feat of soldiers and partisans who died on the fronts Great Patriotic War. At the foot of the memorial laid earth capsules from more than 200 places in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, where the largest military battles took place, including from the famous hero cities: Moscow, Kyiv, Leningrad, Odessa and the main citadel of Belarus -. In 2013, during a major reconstruction to 70th anniversary of the liberation of Gomel appeared at the Mound of Glory Eternal flame. In year centenary of the October Revolution the message to the descendants, placed in the "Kurgan" during its construction, was opened and a new one was laid - so that 50 years later, in 2067, his successors would read it.
Gomel
Memorial complex dedicated to the operation "Bagration"
To 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders in the Svetlogorsk district was founded the world's first memorial complex dedicated to one of the greatest military operations in the history of mankind. It was here, near the village of Rakovichi on the 71st kilometer of the highway Bobruisk - Mozyr, June 23, 1944 a large-scale offensive of the Soviet troops began, which lasted more than two months. As a result of the operation, code-named after the hero Patriotic War of 1812 commander Peter Bagration, were released Belarus, partly territory Baltics and Poland, and most importantly, a crushing blow was dealt to the German Army Group Center, which finally weakened Germany. ... The first object of the complex was a 7-meter one, which ensured the success of the operation ...
The memorial complex also includes a dugout-like museum dedicated to the Bagration operation, a chapel with a memorial book, an exposition of military equipment and weapons.
Gomel region, Svetlogorsk district, Rakovichi village
Memorial complex "Loev"
Memorial complex in Loev dedicated to the heroes of one of the largest battles Great Patriotic War- Operations in October 1943. Back in 1966, an 18-meter obelisk was erected in the center of the urban village - a reduced copy of the Victory Monument in Minsk. After to 70th anniversary of the Great Victory the entire central square turned into a memorial ensemble. At the open exhibition area Museum of the Battle for the Dnieper on both sides of Walk of Fame samples of military equipment participating in the battle were established. Hundreds of names are immortalized on memorial plates. For incredible courage in the battles on the Loevsky bridgehead 323 warriors were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union- a unique fact in the history of the Great Patriotic War.
Gomel region, settlement Loev
Memorial complex "Memory"
Dobrush, whose inhabitants, together with the soldiers of the Red Army, bravely defended the city, was liberated from the occupation of the Nazi invaders on October 10, 1943. On the site of a mass grave on the banks of the river Iput in 2005 was erected memorial complex "Memory", where the names of 700 fighters who gave their lives during the defense of the city are immortalized.
Gomel region, Dobrush
Memorial ensemble in honor of the soldiers of the Belarusian border district
Memorial erected in 2004 in the central part Grodno, dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who heroically defended borders of the country from the very first days Great Patriotic War. On the background border posts- symbols of 15 union republics - rises a bronze sculpture of three warriors who, reliably closing the border with their bodies and clutching weapons in their hands, pass through the fiery walls of defense. The leitmotif of the composition was the inscription - "To the dead, but not defeated soldiers-border guards of the Belarusian border district." Ensemble complement granite slabs, symbolizing the mass graves of those courageous soldiers who June 21, 1941 were the first to engage the enemy.
Grodno
Memorial complex "Shaulichi"
Memorial "Shaulichi"- Another of the largest monuments in Belarus, dedicated to the tragedy of the "fire villages", wiped off the face of the Earth in the years. During the punitive operation in the morning 7 July 1943 the Germans shot here 366 people, including 120 children, and burned 77 houses. After this massacre Shaulichi village, who is called the "younger sister", was not revived, and the memory of the tragedy was immortalized in the memorial complex. An obelisk, a sculptural composition appeared near the mass graves of the killed civilians "Warrior and Underdog", two mournful crosses ... In time, 40 wooden symbolic log cabins, granite slabs and commemorative plaques with the names of the dead were installed on the site of the burned houses. In the heart of the memorial, with a sad ringing, it reminds of hundreds of ruined lives ...
Grodno region, Volkovysk district
Memorials at the sites of death camps and ghettos
Created by the Nazis bloody camp "Trostenets" became the largest on the territory of the Soviet Union and fourth in Europe after the infamous Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka. According to official data, "factory of death" around Minsk 206.5 thousand people died, but there is evidence that there were many more victims. "Trostenets" united several places of cruel massacre: a labor concentration camp near the village Small Trostenets, tract Blagovshchina, where mass executions were carried out, the tract Shashkovka, where the bodies of the dead were burned in a huge "pit-oven" ... There was a grandiose one on the territory of the former death camp - a symbol of national and universal memory of the victims of Nazism.
In "Trostenets" the Nazis destroyed civilians and prisoners of war, prisoners of the Minsk ghetto, members of the underground and partisans, Jews taken out of Poland, Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia and other European states ...
Minsk
Memorial "Pit", dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust
Memorial "Pit" in Minsk- a tragic reminder of the inhumanity of the Nazis, a symbol of eternal pain and sorrow. During the Great Patriotic War, in the occupied Belarusian capital, it was created to exterminate the Jews: by the end of October 1943, they exterminated here more than 100 thousand human. Among the numerous murders and pogroms, the bloody massacre on March 2, 1942, when the Nazis shot more than 5 thousand Jews, including 200 orphans from an orphanage along with teachers and medical staff, went down in history ... Thousands of bodies of people killed in Minsk ghetto, dumped into a pit where an impressive memorial now stands. In its center is a memorial black marble obelisk, installed back in 1947, and a staircase-composition leads to a manually paved deep pit "Last way": 27 bronze figures, like faceless shadows, descend to be slain...
An alley of the Righteous Among the Nations was planted near the Pit, where the names of Belarusians are immortalized, who, under pain of death, saved people of Jewish nationality. In total, during the war years, over 100 ghettos existed on the territory of Belarus, where Jews from Germany, Poland, Austria and other countries were brought for liquidation ...
G. Minsk, st. Melnikaite
Gomel region, Zhlobin district, Krasny Bereg village
Memorial complex "Ozarichi"
... The cruel one lasted only two weeks, but during this time the Nazis managed to exterminate at least 20 thousand people. In March 1944, it was created by order Hitler around the village Ozarichi on the Polissya not only to torture the prisoners, but also to weaken the advancing Red Army. Here - in the edge of the swamps- brought patients with typhus and other infections that could quickly spread among local residents and Soviet soldiers. Within the territory of Ozarich death zone, uniting several places, there were no buildings: women, children and the elderly were kept in the open, and the approaches to the camp were mined. From this horror liberators rescued over 30 thousand prisoners, of which more than half are children. In 1965, a memorial was created, uniting three white steles - symbol of the Ozarich camps- on which prisoners are depicted and names are carved.
Opened in 2004 Museum of memory of the victims of the Ozarich death zone, which contains unique materials: memories and recordings of eyewitnesses, documents, photographs, correspondence with former prisoners and liberators ...
Gomel region, Kalinkovichi district
Memorial complex "Lupolovsky camp of prisoners of war"
In August 1941, on the outskirts on the outskirts of Lupolovo, the Nazis created camp for Soviet prisoners of war. Prisoners were starved, interrogated and brutally tortured: up to 250 people died daily behind barbed wire through which electric current was passed. In total, about 80 thousand prisoners of war died in the camp, and only the names of 389 of them are known. One of the prisoners was General Mikhail Romanov- Commander of the famous 172nd Rifle Division, which heroically defended the city in July 1941. In memory of those who died on the site of the death camp in 1948, the first monument appeared, and in 1984, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Mogilev, it was opened memorial Complex.
On the site of the Lupolovsky concentration camp is also mass grave soldiers of the 238th and 369th rifle divisions of the 2nd Belorussian Front, who participated in liberation of Mogilev in June 1944.
Mogilev
military museums
Halls and exhibitions dedicated to Great Patriotic War, are open in all local history museums of Belarus. Priceless rarities, military chronicles cities and villages, the tragedies of broken lives, stories about the heroism of people who contributed to the long-awaited Victory - every region of the country keeps the memory of those terrible years ...
Rare exhibits are also found in school museums, where for decades post-war generations have been collecting evidence of hard times, memories of soldiers, partisans and underground fighters, prisoners of camps and civilians ...
Traveling around Belarus, you can not only visit numerous local expositions, but also see truly unique military collections.
The main repository of rarities - first in the world, which was founded in Minsk. To 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders, the museum opened in, became an interactive historical complex. Today the Belarusian museum is also one of the largest collections in the world dedicated to events Second World War.
Also large-scale military collections of Belarus present:
Vitebsk Regional Museum Hero of the Soviet Union Minai Shmyrev;
Museum of the Battle for the Dnieper in Loev.
