Schönholzer Heide Soviet War Memorial

Last Sunday I went to what I thought was my local Soviet war memorial, but turned out to be an war cemetery. It seemed cohen-friendly, so I went in anyway.

There are eight mass graves either side of the central aisle, each equipped with a plaque showing the names of around 150 soldiers buried there. Wikipedia informs me these total 1182 names in all—but those are only the fallen soldiers it was possible to identify. There are further mass graves and plaques all the way around the edge (I didn't investigate these closely as they aren't cohen-friendly—there are trees overhanging them), but Wikipedia tells me that in total there are 13,200 Soviet soldiers buried there, who fell during the Battle of Berlin. The numbers are staggering.

I've never been anywhere like that before, and found it unexpectedly moving, despite the sunshine and warm temperatures. Or maybe those contributed to the feeling of peacefulness for the final rest of all those dead soldiers.

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