Monument to the liberator in Berlin. Monument in the Berlin Treptower Park

The monument erected in Germany by the Soviet soldier-liberator, who carries a small rescued girl in her arms, is one of the most majestic symbols of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Warrior-hero

The appearance of the sculpture was originally conceived by the artist A.V. Gorpenko. However, the key author of the monument to the warrior-liberator EV Vuchetich was able to translate his idea into reality only thanks to the decisive word of Stalin. The installation was decided to coincide with May 8, 1949.

The architect Ya.B. Belopolsky and the engineer SS Valerius made the main sketches of the future sculpture, however the key part of the work fell on the shoulders of sculptor E.V. Vuchetich, admired the feat of soldier Nikolai Maslov, who selflessly fought against the German invaders right up to the capital of the Nazi Reich.

It was the feat of an ordinary soldier, who was not afraid to pass under explosions of shells and flying round from all sides with bullets in order to save a small German girl, played a decisive role in creating a monument to Soviet soldiers in Berlin. The monument to such an outstanding person was to be created only by an equally unconventional person. It was decided to install a sculpture in Treptow Park as a symbol of victory over fascism.

The best of the best

In order to show the whole world the heroic heroic deeds of our soldiers, the Soviet government allowed the installation of a monument to Russian soldiers in Berlin. Treptow Park received an eternal decoration in the form of a memorial complex only after the best of the best were selected for the competition, which involved about 33 individual projects. And in the end, only two of them achieved the leading position. The first belonged to E.V. Vuchetich, and the second - Ya.B. Belopolsky. To ensure that the monument to the Russian soldiers in Berlin was established in compliance with all ideological norms, the 27th Directorate responsible for the military defenses of the entire Soviet Union was to be monitored.

Since the work was difficult and painstaking, it was decided to employ more than 1,000 German soldiers serving sentences in Soviet prisons, as well as over 200 workers from the German foundry Noack, the Puhl & Wagner mosaic stained glass workshop and gardeners working in the Spathnursery partnership.

Manufacturing

Soviet monuments in Berlin had to constantly remind German citizens what their people were waiting for if such terrible acts were repeated. The monument was decided to be manufactured at the factory "Monumental sculpture", located in Leningrad. The monument to the Russian soldiers in Berlin exceeded the mark of 70 tons, which significantly hampered its transportation.

Because of this, the design was decided to be divided into 6 main components and thus transported them to the Berlin Treptow Park. Hard work was completed in the first days of May under the relentless leadership of architect Ya.B. Belopolsky and engineer SS Valerius, and already on the 8th the monument was presented to the whole world. The monument to Russian soldiers in Berlin reaches a height of 12 meters and is today a key symbol of victory over fascism in Germany.

The opening of the memorial in Berlin was directed by A. G. Kotikov, who is a major-general of the Soviet Army and who at that time played the role of the city commandant.

Already by mid-September 1949, the monument to the liberator-soldier in Berlin passed under the control of the Soviet military commandant's office of the Magistrate of Greater Berlin.

Restoration

By the fall of 2003, the sculpture was so dilapidated that the leadership of the Federal Republic of Germany made a decision on the need for restoration work, during which the monument to the liberator in Berlin was dismantled and sent for modernization. It took place almost six months, and as a result, in May 2004, the renewed figure of the Soviet hero returned to its original place.

The author of the monument "Warrior-Liberator"

The sculptor of the monument to the warrior-liberator Yevgeny Vuchetich is today the most famous monumentalist of the Soviet era.

Who is he, the hero?

The monument in Berlin was made using the figure of a Soviet soldier - the hero of Nikolai Maslov, a native of the village of Voznesenki. This heroic man lived in the Tula region of the Kemerovo region. He managed to save a small German girl during the storming of Berlin in April 1945. During the operation to free Berlin from the remnants of fascist formations, she was only 3 years old. She was sitting in the ruins of the building near the body of her deceased mother and was crying sobbingly.

As soon as a small lull formed among the bombings, the Red Army men heard the lament. Maslov, without hesitation, made his way through the zone of shelling for the child, asking his comrades to cover him, if possible, with the help of fire support. The girl managed to save from the fire, but the hero himself was seriously injured.

The authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany did not forget about the generosity of the Soviet man and in addition to the monument he immortalized his memory, hanging a sign on the Potsdam Bridge, detailing his feat for the sake of the German child.

Biography Details

Nikolai Maslov spent most of his conscious life in harsh Siberia. All the men in his family were hereditary blacksmiths, so the boy's future was considered predetermined. His family was big enough, considering that, besides him, parents had to bring up five more children - 3 boys and 2 girls. Until the outbreak of hostilities, Nikolai worked as a tractor driver in his native village.

As soon as he turned 18, he was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army, where he graduated with honors from the preparatory school of mortar men. Exactly one year after he first joined the army, his regiment first encountered military realities, falling under the German shelling on the Bryansk front near Kastornaya.

The battle was very long and heavy. Soviet soldiers three times managed to escape from the fascist encirclement. And it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that even in such a difficult situation the soldiers managed to save the banner of many human lives with the banner that they received in Siberia in the first days of the regiment's creation. The guys managed to get out of the environment in the composition of only 5 people, one of which was Maslov. All the others deliberately gave their lives in the Bryansk forests for the life and freedom of the Fatherland.

Successful career

The survivors were reformed, and Nikolai Maslov got into the legendary 62nd Army under the command of General Chuikov. The Siberians managed to win the Mamayev Kurgan. Nicholas and his closest comrades repeatedly fell asleep with debris of the dugout interspersed with clods of land flying from all sides. However, colleagues returned and dug them out.

After participating in the Stalingrad battles, Nikolai was appointed as an assistant to the flag factory. Nobody could even imagine that a simple rural boy would reach Berlin himself in pursuit of the fascists.

For all his years in the war, Nikolai managed to become an experienced warrior, master of weapons. Having reached Berlin, he and his comrades took the city in a dense ring. His 220th Regiment advanced along the river Spree to the government chancery.

When there was about an hour left before the storm began, the soldiers heard a cry from the ground. There on the ruins of the old building, nestled against the corpse of his mother, sat a little girl. Nikolai learned all this when, under the guise of his comrades, he managed to make his way to the ruins. Grabbing the child, Nikolai ran back to his own, after receiving a serious wound along the way, which did not stop the heroic deed from performing on a par with all.

Description of the monument "Warrior-liberator"

As soon as the last stronghold of fascism was taken by Soviet soldiers, Evgeni Vuchetich met with Maslov. The story of the rescued girl prompted him to create a monument to the liberator in Berlin. He was supposed to symbolize the dedication of the Soviet soldier who defends not only the whole world from the threat of fascism, but also every single individual.

The central part of the exposition is occupied by the figure of a soldier, who with one hand holds the child, and the second sword, lowered to the ground. Under the feet of the hero of the Soviet Union lie fragments of the swastika.

The park in which the memorial was erected is already famous for the fact that over 5,000 Soviet soldiers were found there. According to the initial idea, on the site of the monument to the liberator, a sculpture of Stalin holding a globe was to be installed in Berlin. Thus symbolizing that the Soviet government keeps the whole world under its control and will never again tolerate the threat of fascism.

Additional facts

It will not be superfluous to note also the fact that as a token of victory over fascist Germany, the Soviet Union issued a 1 ruble coin, on the reverse side of which was written the work of Evgeni Vuchetich - The Liberator of War.

This idea belonged directly to the famous marshal-hero Kliment Voroshilov. As soon as the Potsdam conference came to an end, he summoned a sculptor and asked to create a sculpture that will show what price the world has gotten and what awaits anyone who will ever encroach on its integrity.

The sculptor agreed, but decided to hedge and created an additional version of the sculpture of a Soviet soldier with a submachine gun and a child in his arms. Stalin approved this option, but the machine ordered to replace the sword with which a simple soldier would cut the last symbol of fascism, the role of which was played by the swastika.

It can not be said that the monument to the Liberator-Warrior in Berlin is just a prototype of Nikolai Maslov. This is a solid, collective image of all the soldiers who selflessly defended their homeland.

After half a year of work on the creation of the figure was boiling, the "Warrior-Liberator" began to rise in Treptow Park, and you can see it because of the significant height anywhere in the park.