Contested Sites

Soviet Monuments and Memorials of Liberation in Germany since 1990

Abstract

The article deals with Soviet memorials, especially those dedicated to the liberation by the Red Army in Germany. Using case studies of different objects, times and places, it highlights facets of the discussions on how to deal with these monuments, which took place mainly directly after the Russian attack on Ukraine, but which are still going on. In doing so, a link is not only made to the discussion that took place in the 1990s on the public treatment of political monuments of the GDR after the fall of communism. It is also argued that the monuments, which were erected with a clear political intention, now have different layers of meaning that accompany and shape today’s discussions and thus must also be taken into account in the further handling of this not only Soviet but also German local heritage.