Monument to the Encounter Kreinitz

This memorial commemorates the first contact between Red Army and US troops on 25 April 1945 and the liberation of the village of Kreinitz on 21 April by the Red Army.

On 25 April 1945, Red Army and US Army units made contact on the Elbe River. This was probably made in the morning by a small US reconnaissance patrol led by Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue that crossed the Elbe at Strehla, and met the Russians on the other side in Kreinitz.

Later that day, a second US patrol led by Lieutenant William Robertson arrived at Torgau, twenty kilometres away on the Elbe, at around 4pm. Robertson and Lieutenant Alexander Silwaschko embraced each other on the destroyed Elbe bridge. A photograph of it exists and is still known today.

On 26 April, senior commanders of the 69th US Infantry Division and the Soviet 58th Guards Division met in Torgau. Those responsible for propaganda in both armies jointly planned preparations for the symbolic "Handshake of Torgau" The media-effective scenes were captured on 27 April 1945 by photographers and an American Film Team. Here, Robertson and Silwaschko shook hands again.

The first meeting thus took place in Kreinitz but has gone down in history as having taken place in Torgau.

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