Attractions and Places To See around Volkspark Schönholzer Heide - Top 15

In front of the garden kitchen, potted plants bloom like greetings to those arriving. On the blackboard: not menu poetry, but honest handwriting. Waffles for the journey home, coffee for the soul. The chairs clatter quietly as someone adjusts them. You sit as if by chance, yet correctly. Inside, the scent of soup lingers, outside, of leaves. Someone quietly tells a funny story, and for a moment, everything is light. Those who stop here don't just take something in. They also leave something behind: the weariness of the journey, the thoughtfulness of the memorial, perhaps even a faint smile.

And then you stand there. In front of the dark stone blocks of the Soviet Memorial. It's not a place for snapshots. The axis stretches austerely and unwaveringly into the depths. To the left and right, granite, reliefs, names. An obelisk at the end – bright in the summer light, yet heavy as the weight of history. Over 13,000 Soviet soldiers lie here, fallen in a war that tore the face of Europe apart. It's strangely quiet in this area, which seems cut out of the world. No music, no rustling – even the wind seems to be quieter. The architecture speaks a language that no one needs to translate. Pathos and piety, warning and monument – all at once. You walk slowly, whether you want to or not.

A place that looks as if history has been woven into the ground. Wide paths, old oaks, silence. And shadows. Not just the cool shade of the trees, but also that which remains from the past. From the forced labor camp. From the attempt to create a place of recreation that was ultimately not allowed to exist because a border suddenly appeared. And yet: the paths remain. You don't walk them, you traverse them like chapters. Your gaze wanders, your thoughts too. Those who walk here walk more slowly. Perhaps because they sense that this is not just a backdrop, but a living archive. One of those places where Berlin lowers its voice. Not a place for spectacle. But one for quiet truths.

A lovely place to stop for a bite to eat. Information about opening hours can be found here: https://restaurant-gartenkueche.eatbu.com/?lang=de.

In 1947, the Soviet occupation administration began construction of the Soviet Memorial in the northern section of the park. The memorial, covering approximately 3 hectares, was inaugurated in November 1949. 13,200 Red Army soldiers are buried here, far more than in the much more monumental memorial in Treptower Park. Only about a fifth of the fallen soldiers could be identified; their names, years of birth, and ranks were inscribed on 100 bronze plaques. The main element of the memorial is an obelisk, in front of which stands a statue of "Motherland" mourning her dead son.

In the western section of the park beyond Germanenstraße, the Schönholz Soviet Memorial with 13,200 individual graves was established in 1949. The dead were reburied here from surrounding graves and laid together.

You wouldn't believe it, but the Schönholzer Heide is . It is a remnant of the formerly large, enclosed forest area (Schönhauser Fichten) as far as the Jungfernheide. After the Luna Park in Halensee was closed in 1936, a Traumland amusement park with many attractions was opened here. During the Second World War, there was a forced labor camp here, and bomb victims were buried here. Then it was supposed to become an amusement and recreation area again. But it failed because the entire area lay along the border and the nearby S-Bahn stations were in western territory.

However, in the northern district of Pankow there is a third, large Soviet memorial that is hardly known even to most Berliners. The Soviet honorary cemetery in the Schönholzer Heide. However, since it is located away from the crowds of visitors, the atmosphere here is very special.