The monuments of the Soviet era

During the soviet era, thousands of big impressive monuments were erected. Many of these still stand, but in many ex soviet states they have passed laws to remove them.

For some they are a painful memory of the past, for others an important piece of history, they wish to keep for future generations.

Remaining monuments

Belarus

Brest Hero-Fortress

A memorial built in honour of approximately 4.000 soviet soldiers who tried to hold of the German Wehrmacht from a 1830’s fortification.

Bulgaria

Buzludzha

The huge monument is placed on the top of a mountain, where the forerunner to the Bulgarian Communist Party was formed.

North Macedonia

Ilinden Monument – Makedonium

Built in 1974, in memory of the ilinden uprising in 1903.

Ukraine

The People’s Friendship Arch

Placed in Kiev

Removed monuments

In august 2017 Ukraine, had dismantled and removed all 1.320 Lenin statues in the country. It took them only two years to do so.

Poland has removed about 500 soviet monuments since 2015, in a bid to promote Polish statues, in stead of what they say are Russian monuments.

Latvia

Monument to Soviet sailors

The monument was erected in memory of 26 soviet soldiers who were killed during the second World War, in the Latvian town of Limbazi.

Dismantled by the government in 2016, after years of neglect. The official reason was that it was a danger to public safety.

Do you know of any existing or decommissioned soviet monuments that are not on the list, please leave a comment below.

Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders

The Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders was erected in 1989, and demolished in august 2022.