Joseph Polowsky, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJoseph Polowsky
American anti-war activist
Date of Birth: 02-Oct-1916
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Date of Death: 17-Oct-1983
Profession: peace activist
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Libra 
About Joseph Polowsky
- Joseph (Joe) 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 area in the Russian Empire 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. During World War II he was conscripted and served in the 69th Infantry Division.
- He belonged to a scouting party which crossed the Elbe in Torgau on April 25, 1945 and met Soviet troops on the other bank.
- 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 to declare 25 April a World Day of Peace. Each year he commemorated the Elbe Day on the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago and held a vigil.
- He continued to work as a taxi driver.In 1959 he met Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev who visited the United States.
- A short time later he was invited to visit the Soviet Union where he again met Khrushchev in the Kremlin.
- Then he visited East Germany and met Walter Ulbricht. 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 variety was dedicated to Joe Polowsky in Torgau in 2006.
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