Seelow Heights Memorial and Museum

Yesterday the weather was glorious so I decided to visit the Seelow Heights Memorial and Museum in Seelow, Brandenburg. It's only about 75 km from where I live so it was an easy drive. I found it in that book, "Berlin, the War, the Wall," that I bought last week in Berlin.

The Battle of Seelow Heights was the last really fierce battle before the Russians went all the way into Berlin because the Germans knew that this was the only possible place to stop them. "Reichstrasse 1, the main highway to Berlin was vital to the Soviet advance. Hitler knew that the Seelower Hoehe was the last real natural obstacle to a rapid Soviet advance into Berlin..." (from the book) There were about 200,000 Germans, SS, Wehrmacht and Volkssturm, against 900,000 Russians under Marshal Zhukov. After the Russians mounted a full attack, it took only two days to take the Seelow Heights. But the cost was high, almost 40,000 Russian casualties and 12,000 Germans, soldiers and civilians.

The museum is very small, located in what appears to be a bunker (or reconstruction of a bunker), below the monument that overlooks the edge of the memorial gardens, which I was unable to see because I am not able to walk up the hill that far. The museum has descriptions of what happened, photos, maps, personal accounts and two small dioramas, one depicting the Soviet bunkers. There are personal effects, uniforms, helmets, and other accoutrements, both German and Russian, along with shell casings. There is a movie, but they weren't showing it yesterday when I was there. Outside there is an old Soviet T-34 tank, a Soviet rocket launcher (Stalin Organ), a large, apparently German, 152 mm howitzer, a smaller German howitzer and a German mortar.

The museum is very well done and provides an excellent overview of the battle. Everything is in German. If you are in the area, it makes a very good short trip in an area with nice scenery. It's 70 km east of Berlin on Bundestrasse 1 and about 25 km north of Frankfurt/Oder. The town has some restaurants and hotels.

Handicap access is poor. There are some stairs and a ramp down into the concrete lawn, but only stairs up into the museum itself, although they're not too bad. The slope up to the monument itself was too steep for me to walk all the way to the top.

Linda