The competition attracted 33 entries, with the eventual design a hybrid of the submissions of the architect Jakow S. Belopolski, sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, painter Alexander A. Gorpenko and engineer Sarra S. Walerius.

The Spartacist party (de) claimed that the vandals were right-wing extremists and arranged a demonstration on 3 January 1990, which the PDS supported; 250,000 East German citizens participated.

[4] The International Communist League spoke to the crowd, noting that "for the first time in 60 years" Trotskyists addressed a mass audience in a workers state.

[5] PDS chairman Gregor Gysi took this opportunity to call for a Verfassungsschutz ("Constitution Protection") for the GDR, and questioned whether the Amt für Nationale Sicherheit (Office for National Security, the successor of the Stasi) should be reorganized or phased out.

Historian Stefan Wolle believes that Stasi officers may have been behind the vandalism, since they feared for their jobs and needed a pretext, such as the threat of "fascists", to justify their continued oppression of the population.

[7][8] On 4 May 2004, ahead of "Day of Liberation" celebrations on the 8th, the statue was returned to its position in the park, having been cleaned using water jets and glass beads, a patina restored and protective wax coating applied, had 2200 screws replaced, and an additional stainless steel structure added.

At the opposite end of the central area from the statue is a portal consisting of a pair of stylized Soviet flags built of red granite.

One of Kaye's British characters makes the prediction – since then disproven by events – that the Soviet monument would be demolished "five minutes after the Russians move out of East Germany, whenever that is".

[14] This monument has earned some unflattering nicknames, such as the "Tomb of the Unknown Rapist",[15][16] from the local population with references to mass rapes committed by Soviet occupation troops.

[16][17][18] In addition, the funds spent on restoring the statue in 2003–2004 attracted criticism, being contrasted with the lack of restitution paid to those who were abducted to the USSR during the war.