Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini along with Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko laid wreaths at Slavín Memorial on Wednesday, being the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Bratislava in the final weeks of the Second World War. Slavín is home to the remains of 6,845 Red Army soldiers who died during the liberation of Bratislava.
On April 2, 1945, combined Red Army troops began fighting on the east of the city, quickly liberating the boroughs of Vajnory and Dúbravka. Fierce fighting continued, and on the morning of April 4, with the help of the Second Romanian Tank Regiment and warships from the Soviet Danube Flotilla, the Red Army pushed its way into Bratislava and captured the city. German Wehrmacht troops were forced to retreat into Austria and the final shot in the battle was heard in Bratislava on April 4, 1945, when the city was at last liberated.
During the period of the Slovak independent state (1939-1945), Bratislava became the nation's capital for the first time, however it lost part of its territory, with areas of Petržalka and Devín being annexed to Germany.
The Soviet liberation in April 1945 remains a mixed blessing in the eyes of many Slovaks. There is gratitude and respect for the sacrifice of the soldiers who fought and died for the country's liberation, however the Soviet-backed Communist Party takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948 and the subsequent Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968 has cast shadows over its legacy.
