Warsaw, 🇵🇱 – Mausoleum Cemetery of the Soviet Soldiers

In Polish they call it the "Cmentarz Mauzoleum Żołnierzy Armii Czerwonej". According to Wikipedia, this memorial is the last place of peace for almost 22,000 members of the Soviet Army.

When I planned my trip through Warsaw using ChatGPT, I did specifically ask for places connected to the Soviet and Socialist history of the city; but somehow ChatGPT refused to tell me about this sight. It was more of a lucky find on Google Maps – and certainly one of the emotionally most important visits for me!

Located in Mokotów destrict of the city, it was in walking distance of my accommodation in the city which was very welcome.

When walking through the place, I moved to the zone in my head, where I get in a strange mood. I spent around 1 hour if not more at this place, because I just couldn't stop thinking of the horror these Soviet Soldiers – and the Polish people – had to go through, fighting the German fascist occupiers.

A day after I went on a walking tour through the city with a guide. It was about Warsaw in the Second World War. What he told the group about the horrors of the war, let's you think even more deeply about this memorial. 85% of the city have been destroyed: bombs, fires, destruction by the German army to leave the city fully in ashes as a warning that the fascists are no one to play with.

The memorial has a main body and two wings to either side. The main body can be seen on the upper picture. The wings are the location of many of the graves, where in some cases gravestones or signs have been put up for the individual that has been buried there.

When walking through the facility, you will notice something: The names, more often than not, are of an origin that is not Russian. You will find a lot of names from Belarus, the Soviet "-stans" (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan et cetera).

After some time I couldn't stop myself from putting on some music in memorial of the soldiers. It wasn't loud – just something I could hear when holding my phone closer to my head; and perhaps a bit of music to signify my gratitude to the lost fighters against fascism.

A thing that made me a bit sad is the state of the place. Poland has a very complicated relation towards its socialist and soviet past; I get that. This is probably also why they do not take a lot of care for this place. But anyways this place is the last rest for thousands of heroes that liberated Poland from German fascism. Seeing this place grow over with grasses isn't that nice…

When I visited, there was slight rainfall. So it is probably understandable, that I only saw something like 5–10 other visitors during my one-hour stay. But knowing that Europe – if not the entire globe – is in a cycle of militarization and preparation for military aggression – perhaps preparation for the Third World War – it would be nice having more people visit this place.

The First World War was a horror for mainly Europe, with millions of dead people; the Second World War was a massive horror for the entire world with even more death and destruction; now a big number of countries is equipped with even stronger weapons of mass-destruction (including nuclear weapons), so I do not want to imagine what a Third World war could look like.

What did I learn from this visit? The factual learning in this place is rather limited, since it is more of emotional significance to remember the horrors of the past. But it gives you room in your head to think, process, remember.

What I learned with this visit is what I still have to learn: How did Poland look like before; what happened exactly in the Second World War in Poland specifically; What was the development and interpretation of the past like in socialist Poland; how do people look at their past – including Socialism and fascist occupation – now, after the restoration of capitalism?

I will still spend around one week in Warszawa (Warsaw). Do you have any reccomendations what you would not want any historically and politically interested visitor to miss out on? If so, write it below, and I will do my best to check it out!

! [about me]
I'm Revolwritings. This is my account where I want to share about my travels. If you want to check out my other posts, take a look at my main account (@revolwritings), where all my posts (including this one) get shared and reposted.