The Bronze Soldier (, ) is the informal name of a controversial

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, built at the site of several

war grave A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

s, which were relocated to the nearby Tallinn Military Cemetery in 2007. It was originally named "Monument to the Liberators of Tallinn" (, ), was later titled to its current official name "Monument to the Fallen in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

", and is sometimes called , or after its old location. The memorial was unveiled on 22 September 1947, three years after the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

reached Tallinn on 22 September 1944 during World War II. The monument consists of a stonewall structure made of dolomite and a two-metre (6.5 ft)

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

of a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

in a World War II-era Red Army

military uniform A military uniform is a standardised clothing, dress worn by members of the armed forces and Paramilitary, paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and styles have gone through significant changes over the centuries, from colourful ...

. It was originally located in a small park (during the Soviet years called the Liberators' Square) on

Tõnismägi Tõnismägi (Estonian for ''" St. Anthony's Hill"'') is a 36-metre high hillock adjacent to Toompea hill in Tallinn, Estonia. From 1945 to 1996 the central portion of the hillock was called Liberators' Square ().Estonian government relocated the Bronze Soldier and, after their exhumation and identification, the remains of the Soviet soldiers, to the Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn. Not all remains were reburied there, as relatives were given a chance to claim them, and several bodies were reburied in various locations in the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

according to the wishes of the relatives. Political differences over the interpretation of the events of the war symbolised by the monument had already led to a controversy between Estonia's community of polyethnic Russophone post-World War II immigrants and

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...

, as well as between

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and Estonia. The disputes surrounding the relocation peaked with two nights of

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

s in Tallinn (known as the Bronze Night), besieging of the Estonian embassy in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

for a week, and cyberattacks on Estonian organizations. The events caught international attention and led to a multitude of political reactions.

Background

The monument was originally erected by Soviet authorities in Estonia ''to the liberators of Tallinn'' who entered the city on 22 September 1944. German Army units in the city retreated rather than seeking to defend it. Instead, the National Committee of the Republic of Estonia attempted to re-establish Estonian independence by taking power in Tallinn, and by proclaiming Provisional Government of Estonia and declaring re-establishment of the country's independence on 18 September 1944. By the time the Red Army entered Tallinn, they were entering an already-empty city with an independent government, hence occupying Tallinn. The Bronze Soldier monument replaced a preceding wooden memorial – a one-metre-high, wooden pyramid, about 20 cm in diameter, of a plain blue color crowned by a red star – that had been blown up on the night of 8 May 1946Common grave for and a memorial to Red Army soldiers on Tõnismägi, Tallinn (PDF file)(Word file)
Historical statement, compiled by Peeter Kaasik, for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, 2006. (Estonian language version
Tallinnas Tõnismäel asuv punaarmeelaste ühishaud ja mälestusmärk
)
p. 5: Burial in April 1945

p. 12: Ageeda Paavel and Aili Jürgenson

p. 15: Arnold Alas and Enn Roos

p. 17-18: Albert Adamson
by two Estonian teenagers. The two girls, 14-year-old Aili Jürgenson and 15-year-old Ageeda Paavel destroyed it, in their own words, to avenge the Soviet destruction of war memorials to the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

. Both were later arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

and sent to the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

Building and design

The Bronze Soldier monument, with its figure of a soldier against a stone background, was created in 1947 by Enn Roos and supervising architect Arnold Alas. It was unveiled on 22 September 1947, on the third anniversary of the Soviet

re-entering Tallinn in 1944. Originally intended as an official war memorial to Soviet soldiers who died fighting in World War II, an

eternal flame An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which ca ...

was added in front of the monument in 1964. The Soviet liberation theme was changed when Estonia re-established independence in 1991, now stating "For those fallen in World War II"; at the same time, the flame was extinguished.

Prototype

The prototype for the face and figure of the statue is not known. It has been suggested to have been the Estonian 1936 Olympic gold medal

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

Kristjan Palusalu Kristjan Palusalu (until 1935 Kristjan Trossmann, – 17 July 1987) was an Estonian heavyweight wrestler and Olympic winner. Palusalu became the first and only wrestler in Olympic history ever to win both the Greco-Roman and freestyle heavy ...

, as there is a resemblance. The sculptor Enn Roos denied this and instead suggested that he used "a young worker who lived nearby", and there have been claims the worker he is referring to was a carpenter named Albert Johannes Adamson. On the other hand, Palusalu's daughter, Helle Palusalu, has claimed that her father served as a model for the statue. Roos's denial could have been motivated by Palusalu's having defected from the Soviet military and thus having fallen into disfavour with the Communist Party.

Burial site

On 25 September 1944, the remains of two Soviet soldiers were buried in the centre of the

Tõnismägi Tõnismägi (Estonian for ''" St. Anthony's Hill"'') is a 36-metre high hillock adjacent to Toompea hill in Tallinn, Estonia. From 1945 to 1996 the central portion of the hillock was called Liberators' Square (). After the burial of the Red Army soldiers on Tõnismägi, the square was named Liberators' Square on 12 June 1945 with the Bronze Soldier Monument added two years later. The exact number and names of the persons buried in the burial grounds under the monument had not been established with certainty before the excavations of 2007, although the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had ordered a comprehensive historical investigation in 2006. According to official records of the Military Commissariat of the Baltic Military District, however, the following 13 soldiers who fell during World War II were reburied in the grounds in April 1945: * Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Kulikov (Михаил Петрович Куликов) — commander of the 657th regiment, born in 1909 in Morshansk,

Tambov Oblast Tambov Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tambov. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, its population was&n ...

. Killed on 22 September 1944. * Captain Ivan Sysoyev (Иван Михайлович Сысоев) — political commissar of the 657th regiment, born in 1909 in village Topsa,

Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast ( rus, Архангельская область, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲskəjə ˈobɫəsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz ...

. Killed on 22 September 1944. * Gefreiter (Senior Private) Dmitri Belov — 125th division (killed in a battle 45 km from Tallinn in September 1944) * Colonel Konstantin Kolesnikov (Константин Павлович Колесников) — second commander of 125th division (killed on 21 September 1944 in a battle 45 km from Tallinn). Born in 1897 in Zhilaya Kosa, Stalingrad Oblast. * Captain Ivan Serkov (Иван Степанович Серков) — chief of intelligence, 79th light artillery brigade (killed on 21 September 1944, in a battle 45 km from Tallinn). Born in 1922,

Ryazan Oblast Ryazan Oblast (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Ryazan, which is also the oblast's largest city. Geography Ryazan Oblast ...

. * Major Vasili Kuznetsov (Василий Иванович Кузнецов) — commander of 1222nd artillery regiment. Born in 1908 in

Ivanovo Oblast Ivanovo Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It had a population of 927,828 as of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census. Its three largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, cities are Ivanovo (the administrat ...

. Killed on 22 September 1944. * Lieutenant Vasili Volkov (Василий Егорович Волков) — commander of mortar platoon (125th division). Born in 1923 in

Kalinin Oblast Tver Oblast (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was known as Kalinin Oblast (). Population: Tver Oblast is a region of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno. Much of ...

. Killed on 22 September 1944. * Captain Aleksei Bryantsev (Алексей Матвеевич Брянцев) — 125th division. Born in 1917 in

Altai Krai Altai Krai (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders, clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan ( East Kazakhstan Region, Abai Region and Pavlodar Region), Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative ce ...

. Killed on 22 September 1944. * Sergeant Stepan Hapikalo (Степан Илларионович Хапикало) — tank commander of the 26th tank regiment (according to official military sources died of a disease). Born in 1920 in

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

. Died on 28 September 1944. * First Sergeant, medic Yelena Varshavskaya (Елена Михайловна Варшавская) — division medical assistant of 40th Guard Mortars regiment (died 22 or 23 September 1944 in Tallinn). Born in 1925 in

. * Sergeant Aleksandr Grigorov – died 7 March 1945 * Lieutenant Colonel Kotelnikov – no information available * Lieutenant I. Lukanov – no information available According to the Estonian Ministry of Defence, the remains of 12 persons had been exhumed by 2 May 2007 and would be reburied by the end of June 2007 at the same cemetery where the statue had been relocated. Furthermore, the archaeologists performing the digs confirmed that no more burials have taken place on the grounds of the monument. The Russian embassy and other former USSR states were asked to provide DNA samples for the identification of the buried bodies. Those persons who can be identified were to be turned over to their relatives for reburial. The initial

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

analysis revealed 11 male and 1 female among those 12 found at the site. DNA profiles of all 12 were turned over to the embassy of the Russian Federation in Tallinn.

Relocation

According to historian Alexander Daniel, the Bronze Soldier has symbolic value to Estonia's Russians, symbolising not only Soviet victory over

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

, but also their claim to rights in Estonia.''Russian Historian: The problem is how to live together if the two peoples have such a different memory''
, Alexander Daniel,

REGNUM News Agency REGNUM News Agency is a Russian nationwide online news service disseminating news from Russia and abroad from its own correspondents, affiliate agencies and partners. REGNUM covers events in all regions of Russia as well as neighboring countries ...

4 May 2007 Most Estonians considered the Bronze Soldier a symbol of Soviet occupation and repression following World War II. In 2006, the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Pro Patria Union petitioned the Tallinn City Council to demolish the monument, which saw the Estonian president in January 2007 vetoing a bill which would have allowed for its destruction and instead ordering its removal from the city centre. In February 2007, Estonian nationalists unsuccessfully attempted to place on the statue a wreath made of barbed wire decorated with a plaque saying "Murderers of the Estonian People". Amid political controversy, in April 2007 the newly elected Ansip

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

started final preparations for the reburial of the remains and relocation of the statue, according to the political mandate received during the March 2007 elections. The government claimed that the location of the memorial at a busy intersection in Tallinn was not a proper resting place, which led to critics to accuse the government of pandering to Estonian nationalist groups. Disagreement over the appropriateness of the action led to mass protests and

s (accompanied by

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

) lasting two nights, the worst Estonia has seen. In the early morning hours of 27 April 2007, after the first night's rioting, the government decided, at an emergency meeting, to dismantle the monument immediately, referring to security concerns. By the following afternoon the stone structure had been dismantled as well. As of the afternoon of 30 April, the statue without the stone structure had been placed at the Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn. An opening ceremony for the relocated statue was held on 8 May,

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

. (Significantly, Red Army

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

celebrate

Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...

a day later, on 9 May.) During June 2007 the stone structure was rebuilt. Relatives have made claims to bodies of four of the war dead. Unclaimed remains were reburied at the military cemetery, next to the relocated monument, on 3 July 2007. On 27 April 2007, alongside the riots, there was also a huge and coordinated cyber-attack on Estonian institutions, including its Parliament, banks, and newspaper agencies. Although the Estonian government blamed Kremlin, no direct evidence could be produced.

Vandalization in protest of the Russian attack on Ukraine

On 12 April 2022, the Bronze Soldier entered the news again, when protesters of the Russian attack on Ukraine ground one of the medals off its chest. This came in the context of a governmental ban on symbols of Russian militarism and public meetings which incite violence, leading up to the anniversary of May 9.

Gallery

File:BronzeFlowers2007 1.JPG, Flowers and police at the old location of the monument, 9 May 2007 File:BronzeFlowers2007 2.JPG, Flowers at the old location of the monument, 9 May 2007, with the excavation tent in the background File:BronzeFlowers2007.JPG, First

at the new location, 9 May 2007 File:BronzeNewFlowers1.jpg, Second

at the new location, 9 May 2008 File:Bronze Flowers.jpg, Flowers on the old site of the monument 9 May 2008

References

External links

360° QTVR fullscreen panoramas near Bronze Soldier Monument
(9 May 2005; 9 May 2007)
В поле зрения
– Round table on Estonian State TV (ETV) 7 May 2007. in Russian with Estonian subtitles. {{Tallinn landmarks Buildings and structures in Tallinn 1947 sculptures 1947 establishments in Europe 1947 in Estonia 2007 in Estonia Soviet military memorials and cemeteries in Estonia Military history of Estonia during World War II Estonia–Russia relations Vandalized works of art Tallinn in World War II Statues of military personnel Bronze sculptures Stone statues