Slavín Memorial and WWII
Slavín is the name of a memorial in Bratislava, located on a hill close to the city center. It was opened in 1960 and is a memorial and cemetery of the Soviet soldiers that died while fighting to liberate the city from the Axis units, mainly made up of Germans, in April 1945.
Slavín is a neat place to visit if you want to see some spectacular panoramic views of Bratislava and clear views of Bratislava castle. Once, some friends and I went up to take some pictures. We did a little exploring at the top, and found a little path that led us to the side and away from the monument (looking at the image on the right, you’d go down the stairs in the direction of Nový most, about half way until you see a small path on the right side). There behind the trees we found a free-standing bunker. I was surprised. When was it built, who built it, and what were they defending against?
Just recently I came across information about the battle for Festung Pressburg (Fortress Bratislava), while I was doing some research on another topic. The Club of Friends of the Military History of Slovakia (KPVHS) provides details and even a few photos of the battle that lasted from April 2-4 in 1945.
German Headquarters established town of Bratislava (Pressburg) as a fortress in December 1944 and they were decided to hold the town at all costs. Buildings in the town were converted into strong points and bunkers. Germans moved into the town probably 80 tanks and self-propelled guns in order to hold a heavy resistance against Soviet forces.
According to Wikipedia 6,845 Red Army soldiers were killed while liberating Bratislava. The information provided by the KPVHS counters this and says approximately 5,500 Axis soldiers were killed and 800 Allies were killed. What ever the number, it was many thousands over just a few days.
How to get there- Walk from the Presidential Palace. You can also take trolleybus 208 from Hodžovo nám (Presidential Palace) and go two stops to Šulekova, but you’ll still have to do some walking up hill from there.
3 Comments on “Slavín Memorial and WWII”
After the war bodies from some smaller burial places around Slovakia were relocated to Slavín. According to the officials in Russian Embassy in Bratislava over 60 000 Soviet soldiers died liberation terrotory of modern Slovakia, and there are over around 160 burial places of Soviet soldiers in Slovakia, largest being Michalovce (9000), Zvolen (17000), Svidnik (9000), and Bratislava (7000). I'm an admin at one Russian forum about Slovakia, many visitors are Russians living in Slovakia. So, every year for the Victory Day — May 8 & 9 — we organize special ribbons to commemorate the date and our grandfathers. And many Slovaks ask us for those too. Makes many of us very greatefull that it's not forgotten.
April 10th, 2008 at 04:17 AM
Erik, Thanks so much for providing these details and statistics. I had no idea the numbers of Soviet soldiers who died fighting to liberate modern-day Slovakia were indeed so high. Just in Zvolen, 17,000 buried... . Amazing. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
April 13th, 2008 at 05:55 PM
In most countries in Europe May 8 is a holiday, Victory Day (WWII). In Russia it is celebrated on May 9th, and in Bratislava the Russian Embassy has an official ceremony at Slavin. Here's a link of some photos from the ceremony provided by Erik. http://9may.slovnik.org/gallery/
May 15th, 2008 at 05:13 AM