Memorial to the Great Patriotic War
Location: Brest, Belarus
Completed: 1965
Architects: A. Gorbachev, N. Milovidov (architects) and M. Altshuler (sculptor)
Alternative name: Monument to the Liberation of the City
Genre: War memorial, Soviet memorial, former USSR
Six months after their victory in the Battle of Brest Fortress (22-29 June 1941) during World War II, the German authorities established the Brześć (Brest) ghetto to contain and later put to death the city’s approximate 20,000 Jewish inhabitants. Brest was eventually recaptured by the Red Army as part of the Lublin–Brest Offensive (18 July – 2 August 1944) and the 8.7-metre stele honours the soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front, who carried out the successful offensive. Only 20 or so of the city’s Jewish population are believed to have survived the ghetto.
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