L ocated near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, the Soviet War Memorial appears to mirror both the Gate and a triumphal arch, though its purpose is more somber. This is the final resting place for more than 2,500 Soviet soldiers who died in World War II fighting against Nazi Germany. Rather than be a museum of artifacts, the monument is constructed from the artifacts of war. It is flanked by two T34 tanks, said to be the first to reach Berlin. The curved structure itself is created from marble taken from Adolph Hitler's Chancellery ("Reichskanzlei"). At its focal point is a bronze statue of a Soviet solder holding a child in one hand and a sword smashing a Nazi swastika in the other. The stones from Hitler's Chancellery are engraved with the Soviet sickle-and-hammer design along with quotes from Stalin. The monument was guarded around the clock by the Red Army until German reunification.
