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Podcast: Cold War Cast
Episode:

Meeting At The Elbe
Category: Society & Culture
Duration: 00:21:52
Publish Date: 2017-06-15 08:49:26
Description:

In April of 1945 Soviet and American troops met in the middle of Germany in the town of Torgau on the Elbe River.   This meeting produced some great photo ops and the last “warm” moment between the two ideological camps for quite some time.   While there was a real “mission accomplished” feel to the Soviets and Americans linking up, the mile-high view shows Europe as firmly divided between the two new superpowers.  It really does seem appropriate that these two upstart superpowers were able to have this moment on the frontiers of what will become their spheres of influence into the Cold War.

In this episode I read from a Russia Beyond the Headlines article found here as with some of my own commentary.   We’ll finish the show off with Fred Small’s 1961 song “At The Elbe” commemorating the event as well as the life of Joe Polowsky, an American soldier who happened to be at the Elbe that day and was profoundly touched by the moment, dedicating the rest of his life to promoting peace between the US and USSR.
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