The original bronze statue of a soldier from the monument to the victims of the First World War (authored by Johann Adolf Mayerl) was melted down during the war years of 1941-1943.
During the Celebration of Peace held on 30 August 1953, the niches of the original monument pedestal were filled with soil from Dunkerque, Mauthausen, Český Malín in Volhynia, Tobruk, Auschwitz, Dukla, Kiev, Lidice, and Sokolovo.
