The Soviet Army Memorial in Berlin was built shortly after World War II, long before the Berlin Wall was raised. However, the memorial to the Soviet forces ended up just West of the dividing line. The memorial is located adjacent to the German Reichstag which was the scene of heavy fighting during the Soviet capture of Berlin. It is flanked by two T34 tanks, said to be the first to reach Berlin. The curved structure itself is created from marble presumed to be taken from Adolph Hitler's Chancellery ("Reichskanzlei"). At its focal point is a bronze statue of a Soviet solder holding a child in one hand and a sword smashing a Nazi swastika in the other. The stones from Hitler's Chancellery are engraved with the Soviet sickle-and-hammer design along with quotes from Stalin. The monument was guarded around the clock by the Red Army until German reunification in 1990.

Other Links:
Berlin von A bis Z: Sowjetisches Ehrenmal (in German)


Snippets:
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Video: Subway. The Empire Beneath New York's Streets. Hosted and narrated by Jack Perkins. A&E Home Video (1994). Documentary about the history of the NYC subway.
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Timothy 'Tiggy' Ticehurst. Painter born in Kent, UK, in 1965. Lives and paints in NYC. Sells his art on the street near the Metropolitan Museum. Previously worked under the names Timot and Timotoo.
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Restaurant: Blue Room. 1 Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA. Serves a world of ethnic entrees. Buffet-style brunch. Dinner.
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Movie: The Perfect Storm (2000). Directed by Wolfgang Petersen; w/ George Clooney (Captain Billy Tyne), Mark Wahlberg (Bobby Shatford), Diane Lane (Christina 'Chris' Cotter; Bobby's girlfriend on shore), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Linda Greenlaw, fellow skipper). Fight of the Gloucester sword-fishing boat Andrea Gail against the 'storm of the century' that took place off the New England coast in 1991; book by Sebastian Junger; film is based on a true story (even though no member of the ship survived to tell the story).
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Video: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). First volume of J.R.R. Tolkiens fantasy story. Movie is rather disappointing.
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Music: Stina Nordenstam. Swedish singer; similarities with Anja Garbarek. Voice not particularly interesting, but music is intriguing through its strangeness. Stina's web site is very well designed. Requires Shockwave Flash plugin.
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Music: Skin. Former singer of British punk band Skunk Anansie. Album: Fleshwounds. Softer than S.A.
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Book search engine: Fetchbook. com. With price comparison. Used and new books. Good!
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Jefferson Davis (1808 - 1889): Only president of the Confederate States of America
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Video: The Civil War 1861-1865 (1991). Dan Dalton Productions. Dramatic recreation of events through use of historic still photographs and early cinematic dramatizations of the war. Story of the war is told within 90 min; some of the film clips are repeated on several occassions throughout the film.
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