The violent suppression of the popular uprising in the German Democratic Republic

 

June 17th, 1953

The violent suppression of the popular uprising in the German Democratic Republic

1. Background:

After the Second World War, Germany lay in ruins. The infrastructure had collapsed. The occupying powers, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the USA divided Germany. The Soviet Union received the areas of what would later become Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony as well as the eastern part of the city of Berlin. On October 7, 1949, the German Democratic Republic was proclaimed. But the GDR had been suffering from domestic political problems since its founding. These were caused by the high reparations payments to the Soviet Union. Following the Soviet model, the GDR decided to build socialism in 1952. This resulted in companies being nationalized and farms being merged. In addition, the GDR was increasingly distancing itself from the West. Compared to the Federal Republic, people were worse off. The population was suffering from supply shortages and food rationing. The reason for this is the government's focus on rebuilding the military. As a result, a large number of the GDR population left the East German state. The socialist brother state therefore lacked workers, so the SED leadership decided to increase the work norm by 10%. More work for the same pay. It is clear that this was not met with enthusiasm... Although this was withdrawn the day before the uprisings, the workers did not calm down.

2. The uprisings

All sections of the population are involved in the uprising, including men, women and young people, who influence events in various roles. The demonstrations take place not only in cities such as Leipzig and East Berlin, but also in the countryside. The rural population was already dissatisfied on June 12, 1953, in response to the merger of agricultural companies into LPG (agricultural production cooperatives). In East Berlin, workers on large construction sites went on strike on June 15 and 16. These workers called a general strike for the following day and more and more people joined. Ultimately, around a million people took part in the uprisings. People took part in strikes and demonstrations in around 700 communities and towns, but the uprisings were concentrated in the industrial centers of Halle, Merseburg and Magdeburg and the industrial district of Leipzig as well as East Berlin companies. By June 21, 1953, there had been resignations from the LPG and work stoppages in 302 communities.

3. The demands:

After the work norm had been lowered again, the demonstrators now demanded, among other things, free and secret elections, the resignation of the government, freedom of the press and the release of political prisoners.

They demonstrated with the following slogans, among others: "Strike down the government!", "Away with the goatee clique!", "Butter instead of a national army!", "We don't want to be slaves!", "Brothers, to the sun, to freedom!" [1]

4. The violent suppression

The GDR government itself cannot do enough to counter the uprising. So the Soviet Union helps the GDR government. A state of emergency is declared and from 11:30 a.m. Soviet tanks roll through the streets of Berlin. At 12 noon the first soldiers fire. Although they initially fire over the crowd, there are deaths. To this day it is not possible to say exactly how many people died. There are estimates that say between 50 and 125 deaths. The squares are all cleared by the evening and a curfew is imposed. But this bloody approach is not only taking place in Berlin; the soldiers also take tough action in other places.

The consequences:

In the days and weeks after June 17, 1953, 13,000 to 14,000 people are taken prisoner, many of whom are quickly released. However, 2500 are sentenced to often long prison terms and unfortunately also to death.

Because they realize that they have no opportunity to change, many GDR citizens flee to the West. The government realizes that the population does not support it and that resistance can only be resolved with the use of violence. This leads to the construction of the Wall, which restricts the freedom of the GDR population from 1961 to 1989.

The Federal Republic declares June 17th a public holiday in the year of the uprising. The GDR government, however, clarifies the uprising as an attempted coup initiated by the West. But this is clearly wrong.

Today the street between the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate is named after June 17th.

Philipp