'They are there because Germany started World War II, which killed 27 million people in the Soviet Union,' he said. 'The Baltic states show that the time of Russian war equipment and victory monuments is over, and these are now being consistently taken down,' she said, labeling tanks as 'materialized symbols of violence' that are designed to kill, intimidate and wield power over people.īut Wieland Giebel, publisher of historical books and initiator of a permanent exhibition in Berlin about the Nazi era, is opposed to removing the T34 tanks from the Soviet Memorial. There, many of the remaining monuments from Soviet times have been removed since the war in Ukraine began in late February. She is adamant that Russian war machines should not be regarded as a symbol of peace in Germany 'when at the same time Russia has been fighting against Europe and our values for years and is waging war in Ukraine with the most brutal violence.' Stefanie Bung wants Berlin to remove the Soviet battle tanks Image: Ines Grabner Soviet monuments in the Baltic statesīung speaks of the former Soviet Republics of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, which, since 1991, have been independent Baltic countries.

Nevertheless, Bung hopes to initiate a debate about military equipment on memorials in public spaces because, according to the Berlin native, 'the political conditions have fundamentally changed.' Germany pledged to maintain and care for Soviet monuments as part of its reunification in the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, also known as the Two Plus Four Agreement of 1990. Shortly after the war in Ukraine began, protesters covered one of Berlin's Soviet battle tanks with an Ukrainian flag Image: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance

But is that still appropriate, considering the ongoing war in Ukraine?įor Stefanie Bung, a lawmaker in the Berlin state parliament for the conservative opposition Christian Democrats party, the answer is clear. 'Memorials must be preserved, but I call for the Russian-Soviet guns and tanks that are on display in Germany to be dismantled,' she told DW. Ever since, they have stood as a symbol of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany as part of a vast memorial barely 500 meters (550 yards) from the landmark Brandenburg Gate. They were used at the end of World War II in the 1945 Battle of Berlin.

To this day, Soviet tanks stand in the German capital.

Main battle tank of ww2 russian