Plaque to Ivan Grigorjevič Gončarenko

The Plaque to Ivan Grigorjevič Gončarenko is a small war memorial in Prague, set into a niche carved out of the rock along U Bruských kasáren street. It commemorates a Soviet officer who was killed in the city during the final days of the Second World War, just as the fighting for Prague's liberation was drawing to a close.

Where exactly is the plaque located?

The plaque sits in a rock niche facing house number 132 on U Bruských kasáren street, in the Klárov area at the foot of the Castle hill. This stretch of the city, close to the Vltava embankment and the Mánes Bridge, was the scene of the last clashes of the Prague Uprising in May 1945. The memorial itself is modest and easy to walk past without noticing, but for anyone tracing the closing days of the war in Prague, it marks a concrete, physical link to those events.

Who was Ivan Grigorjevič Gončarenko?

Ivan Grigorjevič Gončarenko was born in 1920 in the village of Sušilino, in the Bilopillia district of the Sumy region in Ukraine. He served in the Red Army with the rank of Guards Lieutenant, commanding tank No. 23 within the 4th Guards Tank Brigade, part of the forces under General Leljušenko within the 1st Ukrainian Front, commanded by Marshal Ivan Konev. He was killed on May 9, 1945, in Prague, at the age of 25, in the Klárov area, as Red Army units were entering the city center. Available accounts indicate that his was the tank credited with reaching the center of Prague first during those final days.

What does the inscription on the plaque say?

The plaque was carved from Slivenec marble, quarried in Prague's own Slivenec district, and carries a bilingual Czech-Russian inscription. The text states that on this spot, on May 9, 1945, one of the heroes of the Red Army fell — Guards Lieutenant Ivan Grigorjevič Gončarenko of General Leljušenko's tank brigade, aged 25. The plaque was unveiled on November 1, 1947, only a couple of years after the war ended, when memories of the fighting for Prague were still fresh among the city's residents.

Why is this spot worth a short stop?

The plaque tucked into the rock along U Bruských kasáren is not a grand monument — it is one of several dozen modest memorial markers scattered across Prague at the exact spots where soldiers and civilians died during the fighting of May 1945. For visitors combining a walk through Malá Strana and the area below Hradčany with an interest in wartime history, it offers a brief pause where the postcard image of Prague meets a specific, documented episode from the war's last days.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Ivan Grigorjevič Gončarenko? A Soviet officer, a Guards Lieutenant commanding tank No. 23 in the 4th Guards Tank Brigade under General Leljušenko, who was killed in Prague on May 9, 1945, at the age of 25.

Where exactly is the plaque located? In a niche carved into the rock, facing house No. 132 on U Bruských kasáren street, in the Klárov area beneath the Castle hill.

What is the plaque made of, and when was it unveiled? It is made of Slivenec marble and was unveiled on November 1, 1947; the inscription is bilingual, in Czech and Russian.

Why did Gončarenko die at this particular spot? He was killed in the Klárov area as Red Army units were advancing into the center of Prague, during the final days of the Prague Uprising in May 1945.