Treptower Park - memorial to Soviet soldiers in Berlin. Treptower Park in Berlin – Monument to Soviet Soldiers in Germany

and his prototype - Soviet soldier Nikolai Masalov

68 years ago, on May 8, 1949, a monument to the Soldier-Liberator was inaugurated in Treptower Park in Berlin. This memorial was erected in memory of the 20 thousand Soviet soldiers who died in the battles for the liberation of Berlin, and became one of the most famous symbols of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. Few people know that the idea for creating the monument was real story, and the main character of the plot was soldier Nikolai Masalov, whose feat long years was undeservedly forgotten.

Monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Berlin

The memorial was erected at the burial site of 5 thousand Soviet soldiers who died during the capture of the capital fascist Germany. Along with Mamayev Kurgan in Russia, it is one of the largest and most famous of such monuments in the world. The decision to build it was made at Potsdam Conference two months after the end of the war.

Nikolai Masalov - prototype of the Warrior-Liberator

The idea for the composition of the monument was a real story: on April 26, 1945, Sergeant Nikolai Masalov carried a German girl out from under fire during the storming of Berlin. He himself later described these events as follows: “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 people - they helped us out and opened fire with all guns.” The sergeant was wounded in the leg, but he carried the girl to his own. After the Victory, Nikolai Masalov returned to the village of Voznesenka Kemerovo region, then moved to Tyazhin and worked there as a supply manager in kindergarten. His feat was remembered only 20 years later. In 1964, the first publications about Masalov appeared in the press, and in 1969 he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Berlin.

Ivan Odarchenko - a soldier who posed for the sculptor Vuchetich, and a monument to the Soldier-Liberator

Nikolai Masalov became the prototype of the Warrior-Liberator, but another soldier posed for the sculptor - Ivan Odarchenko from Tambov, who served in the Berlin commandant's office. Vuchetich noticed him in 1947 at the celebration of Athlete’s Day. Ivan posed for the sculptor for six months, and after the monument was installed in Treptow Park, he stood guard next to him several times. They say that people approached him several times, surprised by the similarity, but the private did not admit that this similarity was not at all accidental. After the war, he returned to Tambov, where he worked at a factory. And 60 years after the opening of the monument in Berlin, Ivan Odarchenko became the prototype of the Veteran’s monument in Tambov.

Monument to the Veteran in Tambov Victory Park and Ivan Odarchenko, who became the prototype of the monument

The model for the statue of the girl in the arms of a soldier was supposed to be a German woman, but in the end, the Russian girl Sveta, the 3-year-old daughter of the commandant of Berlin, General Kotikov, posed for Vuchetich. In the original version of the memorial, the warrior was holding a machine gun in his hands, but they decided to replace it with a sword. He was an exact copy the sword of the Pskov prince Gabriel, who fought together with Alexander Nevsky, and this was symbolic: Russian warriors defeated the German knights at Lake Peipsi, and several centuries later they defeated them again.

Ivan Odarchenko against the backdrop of the monument to the Soldier-Liberator, for which he posed

Work on the memorial took three years. Architect J. Belopolsky and sculptor E. Vuchetich sent a model of the monument to Leningrad, and there a 13-meter figure of the Liberator Warrior was made, weighing 72 tons. The sculpture was transported to Berlin in parts. According to Vuchetich’s story, after it was brought from Leningrad, one of the best German foundries examined it and, finding no flaws, exclaimed: “Yes, this is a Russian miracle!”

Monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Berlin

Vuchetich prepared two designs for the monument. Initially, it was planned to erect a statue of Stalin holding a globe in Treptower Park as a symbol of the conquest of the world. As a fallback option, Vuchetich proposed a sculpture of a soldier holding a girl in his arms. Both projects were presented to Stalin, but he approved the second one.

Monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Berlin

Treptower Park in Berlin

The memorial was inaugurated on the eve of the 4th anniversary of the Victory over fascism, May 8, 1949. In 2003, a plaque was installed on the Potsdam Bridge in Berlin in memory of the feat of Nikolai Masalov accomplished in this place. This fact was documented, although eyewitnesses claimed that there were several dozen such cases during the liberation of Berlin. When they tried to find that same girl, about a hundred German families responded. The rescue of about 45 German children by Soviet soldiers was documented.

Monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Berlin

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May 8, 1949 in Berlin, in Treptower Park, the grand opening of the monument to soldiers took place Soviet army, died brave during the storming of the capital of Nazi Germany. This monument has become a symbol of the sacrifices made by the peoples of a state that no longer exists today - the Soviet Union - in the name of the liberation of Europe.

MONUMENT FROM TROPHY GRANITE

Back in 1946, the Military Council of the group of Soviet occupation forces in Germany announced a competition to design a monument to the soldiers of the Red Army, which was supposed to be installed in former capital Third Reich.

The creative team that created the monument-ensemble in the center of Europe skillfully used the possibilities of a multifaceted volumetric-spatial composition and successfully used the synthesis of three arts - sculpture, architecture and painting - to perpetuate the immortal feat of Soviet soldiers. The greatness of the idea that inspired the artists and the skill of the sculptor Evgeniy Vuchetich, architect Anatoly Gorlenko ensured their triumph: for the ideological and artistic perfection of the work they were awarded the Stalin Prize, 1st degree.

Why was Treptow Park chosen as the site for the construction of the monument? Soviet soldiers and officers who died during the storming of Berlin were buried there, and after the war this picturesque area was favorite place recreation for city residents.

Construction of an ensemble covering an area of about 200 thousand square meters, began in June 1947. The builders, under the leadership of chief engineer Mikhail Chernin and foreman Nikolai Koportsev, worked with great enthusiasm on such a landmark project.

The construction of the monument required about 40 thousand square meters of granite, and slabs delivered by the Nazis from occupied Holland were useful here. Hitler intended to use them for a monument in honor of the victory over Russia.

Tens of thousands of bushes and trees were planted on the territory of the ensemble, and about 10 kilometers of curb stones were laid.

The area of stone ornamental mosaics was three thousand square meters, the area of reliefs on sarcophagi was 384 square meters. A 13-meter sculpture of the liberating warrior was cast from bronze, and the sculpture “Mother Motherland” was made from a monolithic granite block. Sculptures of kneeling warriors were also cast in bronze. To decorate the walls of the mausoleum, about 50 square meters of artistic smalt mosaic were required.

Considerable difficulties presented the execution of stone sculptures and ornaments on a large scale and in an extremely short time frame.

Let's especially say about the creation of a monumental 13-meter statue of the liberator warrior. After Vuchetich completed a model of the statue on a scale of 1/5 life-size, it was enlarged to life-size. Then the plaster molds were removed from the sculpture and the statue was cast in bronze using them at the Leningrad Monument-Sculpture plant. It is curious that the best German companies, even with the cooperation of several factories, undertook to cast such a statue in no less than 6 months. Leningraders completed this work in seven weeks.

The second most important sculpture of the complex is “Mother Motherland” (1967) in the image of a grieving woman. In this figure there is a lot of unspoken pain for the dead and at the same time pride for the heroic warrior-liberators. The monument is made of a single block of light gray granite.

The third part (the first in structure) of the complex is located in Magnitogorsk and is called “Rear to Front!” (1979). The sword - an allegorical symbol of victory over the enemy - was forged in the Urals, raised on the Volga and victoriously lowered in Germany. This is the idea of the composition.

The main entrance of the ensemble in Treptow Park also makes a great impression. On three terraces, laid out from light gray granite, rise two monumental half-mast banners, made of red polished granite, facing each other. At the foot of each banner there are bronze sculptures of kneeling warriors - comrades of those who rest in mass graves. They seem to be paying their last military honors to their fellow soldiers.

These banners, together with the terraces, represent a single monumental complex of the main entrance. On the polished surfaces of the red granite banners, the inscriptions in Russian and German languages: “Eternal glory to the soldiers of the Soviet army who gave their lives in the struggle for the liberation of humanity from fascist slavery.”

Sculpted warriors tightly grip weapons in their hands. It seems that they have only now emerged from the battle and are taking an oath to hold high the glory of Russian weapons, the glory of the banners they carried from the walls of Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad to Berlin.

AT THE POST AT THE BRONZE DOUBLE

During his service in the group of Soviet troops in Germany, the author had to visit Berlin's Treptower Park more than once. And I often heard: the monument was erected to Guard Senior Sergeant Nikolai Ivanovich Masolov, former flag bearer of the 220th Zaporozhye guards regiment- many colleagues saw how he saved a child during a street fight in Berlin.

Of course, the monument to a Soviet soldier with a rescued German girl in his arms does not reflect any specific episode - in it the sculptor Vuchetich embodied a generalized image of a Soviet soldier who reached the lair of the Nazis and saved Europe from the Nazi plague. But the person who helped the sculptor realize his plan is real. This is Private Odarchenko.

Vuchetich’s first acquaintance with a soldier occurred in the summer of 1948. Ivan Odarchenk o was a participant in sports competitions from the commandant's office of the Berlin district of Weissensee. At the stadium of this city, the sculptor liked him with his height, kind face and soft smile.

Soon, Private Ivan Odarchenko was seconded to a special unit - the group of creators of the monument in Treptower Park. They are the ones who won international competition on best project architectural and sculptural ensemble.

Subsequently, Ivan Stepanovich recalled: “For almost six months I went to the studio of the sculptor Vuchetich. They posed with me: first Marlena, the daughter of the German sculptor Felix Krause, Evgeniy Viktorovich’s assistant, then Svetlana, the three-year-old daughter of the Soviet commandant of Berlin, Major General Alexander Georgievich Kotikov.”

When the modeling of a life-size (11.6 meters) clay statue (of the warrior-liberator) was completed, Vuchetich gave Private Odarchenko a parting piece from the working model: a cast of the head of the warrior-liberator. This work of the famous sculptor with the author’s flourish was kept in the collection of Ivan Stepanovich for many years.

Subsequently, the veteran handed it over for permanent exhibition to the Tambov Regional local history museum. On May 8, 1949, Ivan Stepanovich was among those invited to the opening of the memorial in Treptow Park.

After the ceremonial events, the creative group of the monument’s creators left Germany, but the service of Private Odarchenko did not end. He was transferred to the unit that guarded Treptower Park, and several times he - a living soldier - stood guard at the foot of his bronze double.

In the 1960-1970s, Ivan Stepanovich visited Treptower Park several times with his eldest son, his mother Daria Dementyevna. And his relatives saw with their own eyes how people from all over the world came to the monument to honor the memory of Russian soldiers.

THE FATE OF THE PROTOTYPE

Ivan Odarchenko himself comes from the distant Kazakh village of Novo-Alexandrovka. Father, mother, brothers - all farmers. The eldest Odarchenko - Stepan and his son Peter went to the front as volunteers back in 1941. Ivan replaced them in the grain field. A fifteen-year-old teenager worked from dawn to dusk - there were no discounts for age at that time.

The autumn of 1942 brought two funerals. The first hard news: “Private Stepan Odarchenko died at Stalingrad,” and then Peter died near Smolensk.

Ivan joined the ranks of the defenders of the Fatherland in January 1944. First he was an armor-piercing officer of the 309th reserve regiment, then a paratrooper of the 23rd airborne brigade. He fought on the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts, participated in the liberation of Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Recalling those years, Ivan Stepanovich emphasized: “We beat the remnants of Hitler’s army after we celebrated the Victory, on May 10, 11... And then - Berlin, Treptow Park.” Replaced by Odarchenko military uniform for civilian clothing only in 1950. I came to stay with my sister in Tambov and stayed in this city and got married. We raised two sons with Vera Fedorovna. The front-line soldier himself worked at the factory and was a turner and milling machine operator. Worked well. Included in the Book of Glory of the City of Tambov.

At the opening of the monument, the commandant of the city of Berlin, Major General Alexander Kotikov, said: “At our dear graves, we honor the memory of the glorious sons of the great Soviet people, the memory of the heroic soldiers who died in the struggle for the freedom and independence of our Motherland, for the life and happiness of workers all over the world. Centuries will pass, but the great battles of the Soviet army will not be erased from the memory of peoples... This monument in the center of Europe, in Berlin, will constantly remind the peoples of the world when, by whom and at what cost the Victory was won...”

The material was prepared with the assistance of the Military Historical Library of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

Petr LAVRUK, journalist (St. Petersburg), newspaper "Top Secret"

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

Warrior Hero

The external one was originally conceived by the artist A.V. Gorpenko. However, the key author of the monument to the liberating warrior E.V. Vuchetich was able to bring his idea to life only thanks to Stalin’s decisive word. It was decided to coincide with the installation on May 8, 1949.

The architect Ya. B. Belopolsky and the engineer S. S. Valerius made the basic sketches of the future sculpture, but the key part of the work fell on the shoulders of the sculptor E.V. Vuchetich, admired by the feat of soldier Nikolai Maslov, who selflessly fought against the German occupiers all the way to the capital of the Nazi Reich.

It was the feat of an ordinary soldier, who was not afraid to walk under shell explosions and bullets flying from all sides in order to save a little German girl, that played a decisive role in the creation of the monument Soviet soldiers in Berlin. The monument is so to an outstanding person should have been created only by an equally unconventional personality. It was decided to install the sculpture in Treptow Park as a symbol of the victory over fascism.

The best of the best

In order to show the whole world the heroic feat of our soldiers, the Soviet government allowed the erection of a monument to Russian soldiers in Berlin. Treptower Park received a permanent decoration in the form of a memorial complex only after the best of the best were selected in a competition in which some 33 individual projects took part. Moreover, only two of them ultimately reached the leading position. The first belonged to E.V. Vuchetich, and the second - Ya.B. Belopolsky. The 27th Directorate, responsible for the army defense structures of the entire Soviet Union, had to ensure that the monument to Russian soldiers in Berlin was erected in compliance with all ideological norms.

Since the work was difficult and painstaking, it was decided to involve more than 1000 German soldiers serving their sentences in Soviet prisons, as well as more than 200 workers from the German foundry company Noack, the mosaic and stained glass workshop Puhl&Wagner and gardeners working in the Spathnursery partnership.

Manufacturing

Soviet monuments in Berlin were supposed to constantly remind German citizens what awaited their people if such terrible acts were repeated. It was decided to produce the monument at the Monumental Sculpture plant, located in Leningrad. The monument to Russian soldiers in Berlin exceeded the 70-ton mark, which made its transportation significantly more difficult.

Because of this, it was decided to divide the structure into 6 main components and thus transport them to Berlin's Treptower Park. The hard work was completed in early May under the tireless leadership of the architect Ya. B. Belopolsky and engineer S. S. Valerius, and 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 the victory over fascism in Germany.

The opening of the memorial in Berlin was led by A.G. Kotikov, who is a major general in the Soviet army and at that time served as the city commandant.

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

Restoration

By the fall of 2003, the sculpture had become so dilapidated that the leadership of the Federal Republic of Germany decided that it was necessary to carry out a process during which the monument to the liberating soldier in Berlin was dismantled and sent for modernization. It lasted for almost six months, resulting in an updated figure already in May 2004 Soviet hero returned to its original place.

Author of the monument "Warrior-Liberator"

The sculptor of the monument, Viktorovich 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 Nikolai Maslov, a native of the village of Voznesenki. Lived this heroic man in the Tula district of the Kemerovo region. He managed to save a little German girl during the storming of Berlin in April 1945. During the operation to liberate Berlin from the remnants of fascist formations, she was only 3 years old. She sat in the ruins of the building near the body of her dead mother and cried bitterly.

As soon as there was a slight lull among the bombings, the Red Army soldiers heard the cry. Maslov, without hesitation, made his way through the shelling zone behind the child, asking his comrades to cover him if possible with fire support. The girl was saved from the fire, but the hero himself was seriously injured.

The German authorities have not forgotten about generosity Soviet man and in addition to the monument, they immortalized his memory by hanging a plaque on the Potsdam Bridge, telling in detail about his feat for the sake of a German child.

Biography details

Nikolai Maslov spent most of his adult life in harsh Siberia. All the men in his family were hereditary blacksmiths, so the boy’s future was considered initially predetermined. His family was quite large, considering that, besides him, his parents had to raise 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 Soviet army, where he graduated with honors. preparatory school mortarmen. Exactly a year after he first joined the army, his regiment first encountered the realities of war, coming under German fire on the Bryansk Front near Kastornaya.

The battle was very long and difficult. Soviet soldiers managed to escape from the fascist encirclement three times. Moreover, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that even in such a difficult situation, the soldiers were able to save at the cost of many human lives the banner they received in Siberia in the first days of the creation of the regiment. The guys managed to get out of the encirclement with only 5 people, one of whom was Maslov. All the rest consciously gave their lives for the life and freedom of the Fatherland.

Successful career

The survivors were reorganized, and Nikolai Maslov ended up in the legendary 62nd Army under the command of General Chuikov. The Siberians managed to win on Mamayev Kurgan. Nicholas and his closest comrades were repeatedly bombarded with debris from the dugout mixed with clods of earth flying from all sides. However, colleagues returned and dug them up.

After participating in the Battles of Stalingrad, Nikolai was appointed as an assistant at the Banner Factory. No one could even imagine that a simple rural guy would go all the way to Berlin in pursuit of the Nazis.

During all the years of his stay in the war, Nikolai managed to become an experienced warrior, fluent in using weapons. Having reached Berlin, he and his comrades took the city into a tight ring. His 220th regiment advanced along the government office.

When there was about an hour left before the start of the assault, the soldiers heard crying from underground. There, on the ruins of an old building, clinging to the corpse of her mother, sat a little girl. Nikolai learned all this when, under the cover of his comrades, he was able to make his way to the ruins. Having grabbed the child, Nikolai ran back to his own people, receiving a serious injury on the way, which did not prevent him from performing a truly heroic feat along with everyone else.

Description of the monument “Warrior-Liberator”

As soon as the last stronghold of fascism was taken by Soviet soldiers, Evgeniy Vuchetich met with Maslov. The story about the rescued girl gave him the idea to create a monument to the liberating warrior in Berlin. It was supposed to symbolize the dedication of the Soviet soldier, protecting not only the whole world, but also every single person from the threat of fascism.

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

The park in which the memorial was erected is already famous for the fact that more than 5,000 Soviet soldiers found rest there. According to the initial plan, on the site where the monument to the liberating soldier stands, a sculpture of Stalin holding a globe was to be installed in Berlin. Thus symbolizing that the Soviet government has the whole world under its control and will never again allow the threat of fascism.

Additional facts

It would not be amiss to note the fact that as a sign of victory over Nazi Germany Soviet Union issued a coin with a face value of 1 ruble, back side which captured the work of Yevgeny Vuchetich - “Warrior-Liberator”.

This idea belonged directly to the famous hero marshal. As soon as the Potsdam Conference came to an end, he summoned a sculptor and asked to create a sculpture that would show at what price the world was acquired and what awaits anyone who ever encroaches on its integrity.

The sculptor agreed, but decided to play it safe and created additional option sculptures of a Soviet soldier with a machine gun and a child in his arms. Stalin approved this particular option, but ordered the machine gun to be replaced with a sword, with which a simple soldier would cut the last symbol of fascism, the role of which was played by the swastika.

It cannot be said that the monument to the soldier-liberator in Berlin is just a prototype of Nikolai Maslov. This is a complete, collective image of all the soldiers who selflessly defended their homeland.

After work on creating the figure had been in full swing for six months, the “Warrior-Liberator” began to rise in Treptower Park, and due to its significant height it can be seen anywhere in the park.

69 years ago, on May 8, 1949, the Monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Treptower Park. This memorial was erected in memory of the 20 thousand Soviet soldiers who died in the battles for the liberation of Berlin, and became one of the most famous symbols of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Few people know that the idea for creating the monument was a real story, and the main character of the plot was a soldier Nikolay Masalov, whose feat was undeservedly forgotten for many years.

The memorial was erected at the burial site of 5 thousand Soviet soldiers who died during the capture of the capital of Nazi Germany. Along with Mamayev Kurgan in Russia, it is one of the largest and most famous of such monuments in the world. The decision to build it was made at the Potsdam Conference two months after the end of the war.

The idea for the composition of the monument was a real story: on April 26, 1945, Sergeant Nikolai Masalov carried a German girl out from under fire during the storming of Berlin. He himself later described these events as follows: “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 people - they helped us out and opened fire with all guns.” The sergeant was wounded in the leg, but he carried the girl to his own. After the Victory, Nikolai Masalov returned to the village of Voznesenka, Kemerovo region, then moved to the city of Tyazhin and worked there as a caretaker in a kindergarten. His feat was remembered only 20 years later. In 1964, the first publications about Masalov appeared in the press, and in 1969 he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Berlin.

The model for the statue of the girl in the arms of a soldier was supposed to be a German woman, but in the end, the Russian girl Sveta, the 3-year-old daughter of the commandant of Berlin, General Kotikov, posed for Vuchetich. In the original version of the memorial, the warrior was holding a machine gun in his hands, but they decided to replace it with a sword. It was an exact copy of the sword of the Pskov prince Gabriel, who fought together with Alexander Nevsky, and this was symbolic: Russian warriors defeated the German knights on Lake Peipsi, and several centuries later they defeated them again.

The Motherland also had a propaganda poster from the Great Patriotic War real prototype: .

In the popular Treptower Park, located in East Berlin, stands one of the most famous monuments in the world, preserving the memory of the Second World War. This is a statue of the Warrior-Liberator, which is the center of one of the three military memorials in the German capital, reminiscent of the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War and the liberation of Europe from fascism.

History of the creation of the monument

The idea of creating a memorial arose immediately after the war. In 1946, the War Council of the group Soviet troops In Germany, a competition was announced for the best design of a monument to soldiers-liberators. Out of 33 projects, the winner was the project developed by the architect Ya. B. Belopolsky and the sculptor E. V. Vuchetich. Interestingly, Vuchetich presented two sketches of the central monument. The first was supposed to depict Stalin with a globe in his hand, but the Generalissimo himself approved the second option. There is information that Stalin made another proposal - to replace the machine gun in the hands of a soldier with a sword. Of course, this adjustment was also accepted. At the same time, some historians claim that the idea with the sword belonged to the sculptor himself.

The plot of the monument was inspired real event. True, it is not known who exactly served as the prototype. Historians name two names - Nikolai Masalov, who carried a German girl out from under fire, and Trifon Lukyanovich, who repeated the same feat. They could pose for the sculptor different people. So, according to the memoirs of Colonel V.M. Gunazy, it was he who posed for Vuchetich in 1945, when he served in Austria. As stated in the memoirs of V.M. Gunaz, it was he who advised the sculptor to depict a girl in the soldier’s hands, and not a boy, as he had originally planned.

Already while working in Berlin, Private I.S. posed for Vuchetich. Odarchenko, whom the sculptor saw at the celebration of Athlete’s Day. Interestingly, Odarchenko also posed for the mosaic panel, which is located inside the pedestal of the monument. Author, artist A.A. Gorpenko depicted him on the panel twice. Subsequently, Odarchenko served in Berlin, including standing guard at the monument to the Soldier-Liberator. People repeatedly approached him and asked whether his striking resemblance to the monument was coincidental, but he never confessed.

The model for the girl’s figure was first Marlene, the daughter of the German architect Felix Krause, who helped Vuchetich. However, later they decided that she was not suitable in age, after which they settled on the candidacy of 3-year-old Svetlana, the daughter of the Soviet commandant of Berlin, Major General Kotikov.

The history of the sword is interesting. Vuchetich depicted not an abstract sword, but a completely concrete blade of the Prince of Novgorod and Pskov, Vsevolod, at the baptism of Gabriel (1095-1138), canonized in 1549.

Work on the huge monument was fraught with great difficulties. First, Vuchetich sculpted a sculpture from clay one-fifth of life-size, then plaster fragments were prepared for casting, which were sent to Leningrad, to the Monument-Sculpture plant. Already here the statue was embodied in bronze and transported in parts by sea to Berlin.

Initially, it was assumed that the monument would be cast in Germany, but German firms demanded at least six months. Soviet authorities They planned to open the monument for the 4th anniversary of the Victory, so the order was transferred to Leningrad. Leningrad foundry workers completed it in seven weeks. The monument was ready by the specified date, its opening took place on May 8, 1949.

Treptower Park Memorial

Currently, the monument to the Soldier-Liberator is the central element of the Treptow Park memorial complex, in which more than 7,000 Soviet soldiers who died during the storming of Berlin are buried. The monument represents the figure of a warrior holding a right hand a lowered sword, in the left - a German girl clinging to him. A soldier tramples a cut Nazi swastika with his feet. The height of the monument is about 13 meters, weight – 72 tons. The work of the creators of the monument was highly appreciated - the creative team was awarded the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree.

The monument is installed on a granite pedestal, which in turn stands on a high embankment. A memorial hall was created inside the pedestal, the walls of which are decorated with mosaics depicting representatives of the peoples of the USSR laying flowers at the graves of the fallen. In the middle of the hall, on a black polished stone cube, there is a golden casket containing a book with the names of all those who died during the capture of Berlin. A very impressive chandelier with a diameter of 2.5 m under the dome of the hall, made of rubies and crystal in the form of the Order of Victory.

It is on these mosaics that Ivan Odarchenko, who posed for Vuchetich for the monument, is depicted twice.

The memorial ensemble of Treptow Park itself occupies an area of about 200 thousand square meters. m. Several tens of thousands of trees and shrubs were planted in it, and 5 kilometers of paths were laid, framed by a granite curb. In addition to the central monument, the park contains a sculpture carved from a granite monolith, “Motherland,” and in front of the Soldier-Liberator there is a memorial field with sarcophagi, mass graves, bowed banners made of red granite and two bronze statues of kneeling soldiers. And now, decades after the war, the memorial evokes a strong emotional response from numerous visitors.

It is interesting that the granite from which the memorial was built was taken by the Nazis from occupied Holland and was intended for the construction of the monument after the victory in the war with the USSR. In the end, the stone served exactly this purpose, only the winner turned out to be different. In total, the construction took about 40 thousand square meters. m. granite slabs.

The status of the memorial is secured by an agreement signed by the four victorious powers, Germany and the GDR. Under the terms of the agreement, the memorial has eternal status, and its safety is guaranteed by the German government. Repairs are also carried out at the expense of Germany. And the Germans strictly comply with their obligations. So, in 2003-2004. The Liberator Monument was dismantled and taken away for restoration financed by Germany.

It would be appropriate to mention the fate of Vuchetich’s prototype model. It was stored in Germany until 1964, when it was transported to Russia. Currently the sculpture is installed in memorial complex Serpukhov "Cathedral Mountain".