Soviet tanks in Berlin on June 17, 1953. The photo depicts Soviet tanks in Berlin on June 17, 1953, during the people’s uprising in East Germany. On this day, hundreds of thousands of people protested in East Berlin and many other cities across East Germany against the government of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The demonstrations began as workers’ strikes against increasing work norms but quickly evolved into a broad uprising against the communist regime.

The East German government was unable to suppress the protests on its own, which is why the Soviet Union intervened. Soviet tanks and military troops marched into East Berlin to violently crush 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 the repression in East Germany and Soviet control over East Germany. It shows the harsh reality of the Cold War: while democracy and freedom were propagated in the West, an authoritarian regime supported by the Soviet Union prevailed in the East. June 17, 1953, was later declared “Day of German Unity” in the Federal Republic of Germany, in remembrance of the first major popular uprising against the communist dictatorship in East Germany.