Joseph Polowsky (1916–1983) was an American soldier who with others met Soviet troops on the banks of Elbe River on April 25, 1945, and later became an anti-war activist. He was the youngest son of Jewish immigrants who had immigrated from the

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

area in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

to the United States and worked first as a conductor and bus driver for the Chicago Transit Authority, then as a taxi driver for the Checker Cab Company in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was conscripted and served in the 69th Infantry Division. He belonged to a scouting party which crossed the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces first ...

on April 25, 1945, and met Soviet troops on the other bank. Polowsky, who knew the

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

, served to translate between the two groups. When the Americans and the Soviets saw bodies of German civilians killed by stray artillery fire near the river, the soldiers of both armies swore to do everything to prevent a new war. In 1946 Polowsky was discharged from the army. Back in the U.S., he unsuccessfully asked the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

to declare 25 April a World Day of Peace. Each year he commemorated the Elbe Day on the

Michigan Avenue Bridge The DuSable Bridge (formerly the Michigan Avenue Bridge) is a bascule bridge that carries Michigan Avenue across the main stem of the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States. The bridge was proposed in the early 20th century as ...

in Chicago and held a vigil. He continued to work as a taxi driver.Bettina Broneske
''Legendäres Foto mit Joe Polowsky kehrte nach 60 Jahren an seine Wurzeln zurück.''
In: ''Lausitzer Rundschau.'' 28. April 2005 In 1959 he met Soviet Prime Minister

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

who visited the United States. A short time later he was invited to visit the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

where he again met Khrushchev in the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

. Then he visited

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and met

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...

. Already ill with cancer, Polowsky held his last vigil on Michigan Avenue Bridge on April 25, 1983. He died in Chicago on October 17, 1983. In his will he asked to be buried in Torgau, and was buried there with military honors on November 26, 1983. In 1995 a high school in Torgau was named after him. He was memorialized in the Fred Small song "At The Elbe". A new

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

variety was dedicated to Joe Polowsky in Torgau in 2006.

References

External links

Joseph PolowskiDELAWARE STATE SENATE 140th GENERAL ASSEMBLY SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 35The Milwaukee Journal - Apr 24, 1965
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polowski, Joseph 1916 births 1983 deaths American anti-war activists United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers American taxi drivers Bus drivers

See also

References

External links