75 years Elbe meeting (Part 2)
A great symbolism and how Torgau aroused the interest of Jerusalem
In a four-part series, Dr. Uwe Niedersen, member of the board of the Förderverein Europa Begegnungen deals
with the Elbe meeting on its 75th anniversary. His thesis: Torgau remains well below its potential, both internally and externally.
Within the series Niedersen draws a blueprint based on how a better Torgau can be created.
The terrible situation "Corpse field of Lorenzkirch" and the individual views of the soldier Polowsky on it were recreated by the artist Otto von Kotzebue in March 2020 by means of a few watercolours.
Torgau.
Let us go back to the topic we started with. I would like to share how symbols work in people, spontaneously, triggered by the horrible pictures and the reflection has built up a mental veil.
Considering Anne Frank, Tanja Savicheva and the unknown girl with the doll, who had so gripped the soldier Polowsky from Chicago, suddenly cities like Jerusalem, St. Petersburg and Chicago came to my mind. The story and symbolism of three little girls entered my consciousness through city names. I was suddenly urged to connect the general symbolism around the little girls with the names of current cities.
Anne Frank immediately connected with Jerusalem, Tanya Savicheva with St. Petersburg, and the girl internalized by Joe Polowsky lying on the ground led me to think about Chicago.
Torgau - Jerusalem, there is a connection through the architect Abraham Miletskiy, who visited Torgau from Israel at Elbe Day in 2000. He had brought an invitation from Jerusalem’s mayor to the mayor of Torgau.
Jerusalem is interested in Torgau came to my mind! Today we must ask: Are the other two cities, Chicago and St. Petersburg, also interested in Torgau?
During the work in our association for the preparation of the now unfortunately cancelled 75-year Elbe Day, contacts and inquiries have led to Chicago, the city where Polowsky once lived. Everything we have taken up so far from Chicago - for example, our research on Polowsky's work "Principia". Quite some famous and not so famous Americans and people from other nations, journalists including the son of the already deceased Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow (5. 4. 2005 †) have shown an interest in Torgau.
After all, it is the connection between the Förderverein Europa Begegnungen e. V. and St. Petersburg, the former city of little Tanja Sawitschewa, that brought us into the famous Petersburg Hermitage with a Cranach-Torgau theme, and to create attention of local experts, art painters and art connoisseurs.
They have shown a keen interest in Torgau. It is the Russian St. Petersburg, the American Chicago, the Israeli Jerusalem, triggered by Polowsky's one-eyed encounter with the girl lying down in the Lorenzkirch field of corpses with the doll, that continues to cause sadness, deep thoughts and lively discussions in the Förderverein Europa Begegnungen e. V.
With the following part of the article we will discuss what kind of interest of these cities have shown in Torgau and the opportunities and issues that arise out of this interest.
Now let’s seewith the news about Joseph Polowsky, to never forget about it:
We have to take into consideration not only the numerous international actions for peace by Polowsky, that would be too little!
The Förderverein Europa Begegnungen e. V. we has discovered new qualities in the life's work of Joseph Polowsky. and by his official statements Senator Paul Simon from Chicago (Illinois) has been the first to introduce the true Joseph Polowsky, the one with the most distinct connection to Eastern European emotions. The Polowskys came from the Russian tsardom.
We will ask precisely about the emotional and intellectual world of Joseph Polowsky, and we will look for answers:
Polowsky found a more conscious, even active humanity through his ethical approach and his humanistic worldview already during the cruel war he was thrown in as a soldier day after day.
He was a representative of an "active ethics". The idea of eternal peace and the reason given to man as well as the reconciliation with the respective other remained with him also during his war duty. For Polowsky, the little girl with the doll in the middle of the
kirch field of corpses, near Torgaus, has been a compassionate, symbolic image for all those little girls who died with a doll in their hands.
This is the message that Joseph Polowsky left behind for us. The girl with the doll takes anonymity from the millions of civilians, the nameless victims of the Second World War. The girl with the doll is a monument to the victims of the war against forgetting.
This narrative might bring together the citizens of Torgau, St. Petersburg, Chicago and Jerusalem and it will let us discover common understanding.
A specific question will have to be answered in the following part of the article: Should a small town like Torgau, although historical, get acquainted with the much larger cities mentioned above?
In 2000, the invitation to go together with Jerusalem definitely was too early. The mayor of Torgau, Wolfgang Gerstenberg, had not taken any further steps, and rightly so. Torgauhasn’t been ready yet.
In the next section you can read why Torgau certainly might play with the large cities.
Considering Anne Frank, Tanja Savicheva and the unknown girl with the doll, who had so gripped the soldier Polowsky from Chicago, suddenly cities like Jerusalem, St. Petersburg and Chicago came to my mind. The story and symbolism of three little girls entered my consciousness through city names. I was suddenly urged to connect the general symbolism around the little girls with the names of current cities.
Interest in Torgau
Anne Frank immediately connected with Jerusalem, Tanya Savicheva with St. Petersburg, and the girl internalized by Joe Polowsky lying on the ground led me to think about Chicago.
Torgau - Jerusalem, there is a connection through the architect Abraham Miletskiy, who visited Torgau from Israel at Elbe Day in 2000. He had brought an invitation from Jerusalem’s mayor to the mayor of Torgau.
Jerusalem is interested in Torgau came to my mind! Today we must ask: Are the other two cities, Chicago and St. Petersburg, also interested in Torgau?
During the work in our association for the preparation of the now unfortunately cancelled 75-year Elbe Day, contacts and inquiries have led to Chicago, the city where Polowsky once lived. Everything we have taken up so far from Chicago - for example, our research on Polowsky's work "Principia". Quite some famous and not so famous Americans and people from other nations, journalists including the son of the already deceased Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow (5. 4. 2005 †) have shown an interest in Torgau.
After all, it is the connection between the Förderverein Europa Begegnungen e. V. and St. Petersburg, the former city of little Tanja Sawitschewa, that brought us into the famous Petersburg Hermitage with a Cranach-Torgau theme, and to create attention of local experts, art painters and art connoisseurs.
They have shown a keen interest in Torgau. It is the Russian St. Petersburg, the American Chicago, the Israeli Jerusalem, triggered by Polowsky's one-eyed encounter with the girl lying down in the Lorenzkirch field of corpses with the doll, that continues to cause sadness, deep thoughts and lively discussions in the Förderverein Europa Begegnungen e. V.
With the following part of the article we will discuss what kind of interest of these cities have shown in Torgau and the opportunities and issues that arise out of this interest.
Now let’s seewith the news about Joseph Polowsky, to never forget about it:
We have to take into consideration not only the numerous international actions for peace by Polowsky, that would be too little!
The Förderverein Europa Begegnungen e. V. we has discovered new qualities in the life's work of Joseph Polowsky. and by his official statements Senator Paul Simon from Chicago (Illinois) has been the first to introduce the true Joseph Polowsky, the one with the most distinct connection to Eastern European emotions. The Polowskys came from the Russian tsardom.
We will ask precisely about the emotional and intellectual world of Joseph Polowsky, and we will look for answers:
Polowsky found a more conscious, even active humanity through his ethical approach and his humanistic worldview already during the cruel war he was thrown in as a soldier day after day.
He was a representative of an "active ethics". The idea of eternal peace and the reason given to man as well as the reconciliation with the respective other remained with him also during his war duty. For Polowsky, the little girl with the doll in the middle of the
kirch field of corpses, near Torgaus, has been a compassionate, symbolic image for all those little girls who died with a doll in their hands.
This is the message that Joseph Polowsky left behind for us. The girl with the doll takes anonymity from the millions of civilians, the nameless victims of the Second World War. The girl with the doll is a monument to the victims of the war against forgetting.
Unifying narrative
This narrative might bring together the citizens of Torgau, St. Petersburg, Chicago and Jerusalem and it will let us discover common understanding.
A specific question will have to be answered in the following part of the article: Should a small town like Torgau, although historical, get acquainted with the much larger cities mentioned above?
In 2000, the invitation to go together with Jerusalem definitely was too early. The mayor of Torgau, Wolfgang Gerstenberg, had not taken any further steps, and rightly so. Torgauhasn’t been ready yet.
In the next section you can read why Torgau certainly might play with the large cities.
Anne Frank
12. 2. 1929 – Febuary/March 1945
Photo: https://abi.unicum.de/aktuelles/news/anne-frank-bestefreundin-jacqueline-van-maarsen
12. 2. 1929 – Febuary/March 1945
Photo: https://abi.unicum.de/aktuelles/news/anne-frank-bestefreundin-jacqueline-van-maarsen
Tatjana Sawitschewa
23. 1. 1930 – 1. 7. 1944
Photo: Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tatjana_Nikolajewna_Sawitschewa&oldid=188379537
23. 1. 1930 – 1. 7. 1944
Photo: Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tatjana_Nikolajewna_Sawitschewa&oldid=188379537