Crowd in Berlin on June 17, 1953

Description

Crowd in Berlin on June 17, 1953; Photo; Licensed article; Original: 2880×2160; Photographer: Unknown;0a Licensable; Rights: a9 Bleek/zb Media. The photo shows demonstrators in Berlin on June 17, 1953, during the popular uprising in the GDR. On this day, hundreds of thousands of people protested in East Berlin and many other cities of the GDR against the government of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The demonstrations started as workers’ strikes against increasing work norms, but quickly developed into a broad uprising against the communist regime.

The GDR government was unable to suppress the protests alone, so the Soviet Union intervened. Soviet tanks and military troops marched into East Berlin to forcibly suppress the uprising. Numerous demonstrators were arrested, many were killed or injured. Martial law was imposed, and the protest was brutally ended.

The photo is a striking symbol of repression in the GDR and the Soviet control over East Germany. It shows the harsh reality of the Cold War: While in the West democracy and freedom were propagated, in the East an authoritarian regime supported by the Soviet Union prevailed. June 17, 1953, was later declared the “Day of German Unity” in the Federal Republic of Germany, in memory of the first major popular uprising against the communist dictatorship in the GDR.