Soviet Military Cemetery, Warsaw

The Soviet Military Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, is the burial place of over 20,000 Soviet soldiers who died fighting against Nazi Germany. It contains one of the first major monuments to be built in Warsaw to those who fought in the Second World War. It includes examples of Socialist Realist art showing workers (with tools) and other civilians greeting the victorious soldiers.

Cemetery's main passage. The soldiers' mass graves lie to either side of the obelisk .

The monument is located in Warsaw's Mokotów district, near the center of the area where the 1944 Warsaw Uprising took place. An individual in yellow standing in the middle of the photo gives a sense of the monument's vast scale. The dedication on the monument (in the center of the photograph) reads:

Dedication on the right-hand side.

"Pamięci żołnierzy Armii Radzieckiej poległych o Wyzwolenie Polski spod Okupacji Niemieckiej w Latach 1944-1945." (Polish)

"To the memory of the Soviet Army soldiers who fell while liberating Poland from German occupation in the years 1944-1945."

Detail of relief on the left side.

More than 20,000 Soviet soldiers lie in the Cemetery, mostly in mass graves to the left and right of the obelisk. The cemetery was built soon after the war and was officially opened on May 9, 1950.

The cemetery dedication on the right side lists (in Polish) the units to which the dead belonged.

The same dedications appears on the left, in Russian, along with another relief.