Monument to the Fighters for State Soviet Power

Location: Bendery (Bender), Transnistria

Completed: 1969

Architects: Valentin Mednek (architect) and Mikhail Burya (artist)

Alternative name: Monument commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the Bender Uprising

Genre: Soviet monument, former USSR

The monument commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Bender Uprising, a Bolshevik rebellion that took place on 27th May 1919 as a protest against the annexation of Bessarabia by the Kingdom of Romania in December of the previous year. The insurgents, who were under the command of Grigoriy Borisov and supported by 150 Ukrainian Soviet soldiers, managed to take the railway station along with the city’s post and telegraph offices. However, the Romanian Army, along with a unit of French colonial troops, were swiftly on the scene and by nightfall, on the same day, the rebellion was suppressed. Approximately 150 rebels were captured and executed, while others escaped by crossing the Dniester River. The mosaic artwork on either side of the monument represents the beginning and the end of the uprising.