Sixty eight years ago today

On May 9, 1945, the first day of peace dawned in Europe after almost six years of war. On that day, Tsesar Solodar, a Russian writer serving as a war correspondent in the recently occupied German capital, saw a group of Cossack cavalrymen encounter a young woman in Red Army uniform directing traffic at a major intersection. He was inspired to write a poem, which the brothers Dmitry and Daniel Pokrass set to music. The resulting song, "Cossacks in Berlin", became a hit in Russia. I first heard it on the radio in Moscow in 1974, almost thirty years after its composition. There are many videos of this song online; in this one the singer is the incomparable Dmitry Hvorostovsky.

( translation )