Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Soviet War Memorial (Vienna)
Summary
The Soviet War Memorial in Vienna, more formally known as the Heroes' Monument of the Red Army (Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee), is located at Vienna's Schwarzenbergplatz. The semi-circular white marble colonnade partially enclosing a twelve-metre figure of a Soviet soldier was unveiled in 1945. The Heroes' Monument of the Red Army in Vienna was built to commemorate the 17,000 Red Army soldiers killed in action during the Vienna offensive in World War II.
Vienna offensive
Near the end of World War II in Europe, Soviet forces of the 3rd Ukrainian Front were ordered by Joseph Stalin to capture Vienna, both for strategic military purposes and for use as a post-war bargaining chip with the Allies. After intense urban fighting, Vienna was captured by the Soviet Forces on 14 April 1945.
The creation of an Allied Commission for Austria was envisaged by Allied leaders at the various sessions of the European Advisory Commission and established by the Agreement on control machinery in Austria in London on July 4, 1945. The agreement mandated the creation of four occupation zones (American, British, French and Soviet) in Vienna, similar to Berlin. Perhaps not coincidentally, although several sites were considered for the Soviet memorial, ultimately a prominent location in the 3rd district near the Palais Schwarzenberg was chosen, imposingly within sight of the location used by the four allies to govern Vienna. German prisoners of war and Austrian construction workers were used to build the site.
The memorial includes a triumphal arch and is dominated by the figure of a soldier with a PPSh-41 submachine gun on his chest. The soldier wears a golden helmet and holds a Soviet flag and a golden Emblem of the Soviet Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the memorial in 2007 to lay flowers and specifically give thanks to Austria for maintaining it. The city paid to refurbish the memorial, despite objections from certain members of the local press.
The monument has been increasingly subjected to acts of politically inspired vandalism in the 21st Century.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.