Uprising in the GDR June 1953. Uprising in the GDR: “marmalade” and freedom. Military Commandant of the City of Magdeburg

60 years ago, on June 15, 1953, construction workers at the Friedrichshain hospital in East Berlin refused to go to work and went on strike. The workers demanded that the increase in daily output standards be cancelled. On June 16, a rumor spread in the city that the police were occupying the hospital construction site. Builders from different places in Berlin, united in a large column, headed first to the trade union building, and then to the Ministry of Industry.

The minister who came out to the workers talked about returning to the previous production standards, but few people listened to him - speakers began to speak at the rally and put forward political demands: the unification of Germany, free elections and the release of political prisoners. The crowd of those gathered demanded the First Secretary of the SED, Walter Ulbricht, but he did not come. The workers moved to the Stalin Alley area, where elite mansions were being built for the new party bosses. Demonstrators took one of the cars with loudspeakers from the police and began to use it to call on people for a general strike. On the morning of June 17, about ten thousand people already gathered at Strausberger Square for a rally. The slogans of the demonstrators were: “Down with the government! Down with the People's Police! “We don’t want to be slaves, we want to be free!” The crowd began to destroy police stations, buildings of party and government agencies, burn kiosks with communist newspapers, and destroy symbols of communist power. This is how the famous Berlin uprising of 1953 began.

The reasons for the crisis in East Germany are the most commonplace - the Ulbricht government decided to build the so-called "socialism" according to the Soviet model. “They accepted it and decided” and the state machine started working: following the example of the “big brother”, peasants began to be forced into agricultural cooperatives (collectivization), industrial workers began to regularly increase standards and fine them for the slightest offense, and reduced wages. "The country is building a socialist future!" Neither the location of the country, nor the mentality of the Germans, nor the real possibilities of industry in a war-ravaged country were taken into account.

The recruitment of young people into the barracks police increased, and the principles of voluntariness were violated. The collection of taxes from private enterprises and peasants was accompanied by coercive measures, including bringing defaulters to criminal liability. Based on the law “On the Protection of National Property,” thousands of people were arrested and sentenced to 1-3 years for the slightest violation of the law. In the first half of 1953, 51,276 people were convicted of various forms of misconduct. Traditionally, the communists have suppressed the church through administrative measures.

The Germans responded with a mass exodus to the West. In the first half of 1953, 185,327 people fled from the GDR. The policy of prohibition and violence led to disruptions in the supply of food, basic necessities, fuel and energy to the population. On April 19, 1953, prices for products containing sugar were increased.

The events of June 1953 became a natural reaction to everything described above.

By the evening of June 17, the building of the Ministry of Industry was destroyed, the top leaders of the party, who almost ended up in the hands of the rebels, hastily evacuated under the protection of the Soviet military garrison in Karlhorst. The city was completely in the hands of demonstrators. Very quickly the uprising spread throughout the entire territory of the Republic. Strike committees were organized at factories, newspaper editorial offices and local SED committee buildings were seized. Hundreds of government buildings, prisons, the Ministry of Security and the Police Ministry were besieged and stormed. About 1,400 people were released. According to official sources, 17 SED functionaries were killed and 166 wounded. Between 3 and 4 million East Germans took part in the unrest.

To save their desperate situation, the party leadership of the GDR turned to the Soviet military command for help. The fundamental decision on armed intervention was made in Moscow on the evening of the 16th. At that time, there were about 20,000 Soviet troops on the territory of the GDR. Lavrentiy Beria urgently arrived in Berlin.

Soviet tanks and so-called units moved against the protesters. "people's police". A state of emergency was declared. Fire was opened on a crowd of demonstrators who tried to throw stones at tanks and break antennas. Clashes between demonstrators and Soviet troops and police continued until the evening of June 17, and began again the next morning. Shots were fired in Berlin until June 23.

According to official data in 1953, 55 people died, of which 4 were women and 6 teenagers between 14 and 17 years old. 34 people were shot on the streets, 5 were executed by the Soviet occupation administration, and two were executed by the GDR authorities. The authorities killed 5 people.

In 1990, documents were declassified, from which it followed that there were twice as many victims - about 125 people. It turned out that the Supreme Military Commissar received instructions from Moscow to exemplarily shoot at least 12 instigators and publish their names in the press. The first to be shot was 36-year-old artist Willy Goettling, a father of two children. Now modern German researchers say that the scale of repression was relatively small, considering the forces that the Soviet leadership deployed to suppress the uprising.

The uprising pretty much frightened Moscow and only made Ulbricht’s position stronger - he cleansed the ranks, got rid of the opposition in the party, and began to govern the country more harshly. On June 21, they canceled the decision to return the old production standards, then raised food prices. In 1954, the Soviet government abolished the occupation regime and the GDR gained sovereignty. The Berlin uprising of 1953 was the first popular uprising in the countries of the socialist camp, which was suppressed with the help of military force.

“It became clear to the rebels that they were left alone. Deep doubts arose about the sincerity of Western policy. The contradiction between big words and small deeds was remembered by everyone and benefited those in power. In the end, people began to settle down as best they could" (Willy Brandt, former German Chancellor)

In the history of international relations there are secrets that are suddenly revealed in a different political situation and in a different historical era. “Color revolutions” in the post-Soviet space provide clues to the long-past events of the Cold War period.

One of the most significant and striking was the uprising of the population of the GDR in the summer of 1953, which was called the “workers’ uprising.”

On June 12, 1953, the mass purchase of shares of enterprises expropriated in the GDR was allowed in West Germany. In mid-June, Director A. Dulles, Special Advisor to the US Secretary of State for West Berlin E. Lansing-Dulles and Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Ridgway, went to West Berlin to direct the actions of the “workers’ uprising” on the spot. On June 17, the Minister for Internal German Problems J. Kaiser, the Chairman of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag H. von Brentano and the Chairman of the SPD E. Ollenhauer arrived here.

On the night of June 16-17, the RIAS radio station began broadcasting calls for organizing a general strike in the GDR. The German border guard was put on high alert. American tank units occupied the starting areas in Bavaria along the entire border with the GDR. A large number of intelligence officers, including armed ones, were brought into the territory of the GDR.

On June 17, 1953, many industrial enterprises stopped working in Berlin and other cities. Street demonstrations began. West German authorities provided transport for the transfer of demonstrators. They entered East Berlin in columns of up to 500-600 people. Even special American military sound broadcasting machines were used.

These speeches came as a complete surprise to the leadership of the GDR. Reports from the field spoke of a "continuing easing of tensions."

During the demonstrations, specially trained groups, which were promptly controlled from West Berlin, showed particular activity. The demonstrators had political slogans: the overthrow of the government and the liquidation of the SED.

Pogroms of party institutions and desecration of party and state symbols were organized. The crowd dealt with some functionaries of the party and state apparatus, activists of the labor movement. The street riots included arson and looting, as well as attacks on police stations and prisons. In Halle, the former commandant of the Nazi camp, E. Dorn, was released from prison.

Whether it was the famous German love of order - the Ordnung - that worked, whether the memory of defeat in the war was too close, or whether there were other reasons that we have no idea about, but the tension suddenly began to subside.

The organizers of the June uprising failed to achieve their main goal—the strikes and demonstrations did not develop into an uprising against the ruling regime. The bulk of the population distanced itself from political slogans, putting forward only economic demands (lower prices and working standards).

At many enterprises the SED managed to quickly organize armed guards, which since July 1953 existed as “fighting squads of the working class.”

The mass protests quickly subsided, the authorities seized the initiative, and already on June 24 a mass rally of youth took place in Berlin in support of the socialist government. On June 25, the Democratic Bloc expressed its confidence in the government of the GDR. People's police and state security officers acted decisively on his side.

However, there is no need to make far-reaching assumptions in the field of the German mentality or the social psychology of the Germans. The firm and decisive position of the Soviet Union played a decisive role in thwarting the June putsch. Our country declared that it “will not tolerate interference by imperialist states in the internal affairs of the GDR and will not allow a bloody civil war to break out.” The Soviet Army units stationed in Germany acted in accordance with this statement.

The command of a group of Soviet occupation forces in Germany, led by Commander-in-Chief Army General A.A. Grechko showed firmness and acted quickly and decisively. To block the border with West Berlin, several rifle companies were raised and moved to the indicated area. Then units of the 12th Tank, 1st Mechanized and other divisions were introduced into Berlin. Commandant of the Soviet sector, Major General P.A. By his order, Dibrov introduced martial law in Berlin; motorized rifle and tank units of the GSOVG were also concentrated in Leipzig, Halle, Dresden, Frankfurt-on-Oder, Ger and Potsdam.

The demonstration of military force and the presence of political will turned the tide. But there were unfriendly troops nearby, ready to come to the aid of the rebels, and there was a smell of a new big war!

As a result, the consequences for unrest of this scale can be considered minimal. From June 17 to June 29, over 430 thousand people went on strike in the GDR. 40 were killed. 11 GDR policemen and party activists were killed. 400 people were injured. Arrested and detained - 9530. 6 people from among the participants in the riots and pogroms were sentenced to death, four were shot (two in Magdeburg, one each in Berlin and Jena). Two sentences were not carried out - in the city of Görlitz.

On June 20, 1953, the commandants of the three western sectors of Berlin (American, English and French) issued statements of protest against the use of force by the Soviet side.

On June 26, demonstrations of German workers, employees and youth were organized in the East Berlin districts of Köpeneck, Miethe and Friedrichshain in support of the actions of the Soviet troops.

By July 1, 1953, the situation had generally returned to normal. Martial law was lifted in Berlin. Soviet units left German cities and towns and began planned combat training.

After the ball

The consequence of all these events was the strengthening of the split of Germany into two states and the involvement of these states, to a greater extent than before, in political and military confrontation.

In 1954, the status of occupation was abolished, and this status was also, accordingly, removed from the Soviet troops. The control of the USSR High Commissioner in Germany over the activities of government bodies in eastern Germany was terminated. The legal basis for the presence of Soviet troops was determined by the Treaty between the GDR and of September 20, 1955.

Later, assistance from the Soviet Union made it possible to improve the situation of people in the GDR. As a result of intergovernmental negotiations in August 1953 in Moscow, the Soviet Union freed the GDR from paying the remaining $2.5 billion in reparations and transferred the last 33 enterprises under Soviet control. In addition, the Soviet side provided a loan and made additional supplies of goods.

After the June events, certain changes occurred in the life of the GDR. The leadership of the SED was updated, V. Pick was elected First Secretary. The post of Secretary General was abolished. Massive state and cooperative housing construction began, a wide network of boarding houses, sanatoriums and holiday homes was created... Well, and so on. The prerequisites for protests like the “workers’ uprising of June 17, 1953” no longer arose.

Until the end of the 80s.

Type and scope of the uprising

The intensity of the popular uprising was uneven in different cities. Along with the abandonment of work and demonstrations in many localities, there were real uprisings of the population and even attempts - some of them successful - to release prisoners. In numerous places, the Soviet military was used to violently suppress protests.

Strikes: in 13 district capitals, 97 district centers, 196 other cities and towns, for a total of 304 towns.

At a number of enterprises, strikes were carried out even before June 17, 1953: Fortschrittschacht of the Wilhelm Pieck Combine, Mansfeld (copper smelter) - April 17.

FEB-Gaselan, Fürstenwalde - May 27. Kjellberg, electromechanical factory, Finsterwalde - May 28.

In the centers of the uprisings alone, a total of at least 110 large enterprises with 267,000 workers were on strike.

Demos: in 7 district capitals, in 43 district centers, in 105 other cities and towns, for a total of 155 towns.

Population uprisings: in 6 district capitals, in 22 district centers, in 44 other cities and towns, for a total of 72 towns.

Attempts to free prisoners: in 4 district capitals, 12 district centers, 8 other cities and towns, for a total of 24 towns.

The number of prisoners released on June 17 is 2-3 thousand people; in some settlements - Weissenfels, Güstrow, Coswig, liberation attempts failed, in others several prisons were opened simultaneously. There are witness statements from the cities: Bitterfeld, Brandenbugg, Kalbe, Eisleben, Gentin, Gera, Görlitz, Gommern, Halle, Jena, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mersebure, Pretsch, Roslau, Sonneberg and Treptow.

Use of Soviet troops in 13 district capitals, 51 district centers, 57 other cities and towns, for a total of 121 towns.

State of emergency was declared by the Soviet occupation authorities in 10 of the 14 districts, in 167 of the 214 districts of the Soviet zone.

Centers of popular uprising: The centers of demonstrations, in addition to Berlin and its surroundings, were primarily the Central German industrial region (with the cities of Bitterfeld, Halle, Leipzig and Merseburg) and the Magdeburg region, and to a lesser extent also the areas of Jena/Gera, Brandenburg and Görlitz. In all these cities, strikes began at large enterprises.

Victims of the uprising

Since the Soviet Army used weapons relatively proportionate to the situation, and soldiers did not fire blindly at strikers or demonstrators, the number of killed and wounded - however sad each individual victim was - was quite low. According to the Minister of State Security, 19 demonstrators and 2 people who did not take part, as well as 4 police and state security officers, were killed. 126 demonstrators, 61 non-participants and 191 security forces were injured. These figures are probably underestimated, especially since they could not include the dead and wounded who were transported on June 17 from East Berlin to West Berlin across the sector border. Eight participants in the June uprising died from their wounds in West Berlin hospitals.

It should be noted that figures are emerging that greatly exceed 267 killed among the rebels and 116 killed among the security forces and regime functionaries.

Announcement of the military commandant of the city of Magdeburg

I hereby inform you that citizens Darch Alfred and Strauch Herbert were sentenced by a military tribunal to death by firing squad for active provocative actions on June 17, 1953, directed against the established order, as well as for participation in bandit activities.

Military Commandant of the City of Magdeburg

After the uprising of June 17
by order of the Secretary of the Writers' Union
Leaflets were distributed on Stalinallee,
In which it was reported that the people
Lost the government's trust
And he could only return it with double the work.
Wouldn't it be easier for the government?
Dissolve the people
And choose a new one?

Bertolt Brecht "The Decision" (Die Lösung, 1953)

Brecht's poem, written in the summer of 1953 under the impression of the June events, found in the writer's papers after his death in 1956 and first published in the West German newspaper Die Welt in 1959, accurately revealed and reflected the essence of the tragic confrontation between society and power in the former Soviet Union. zone of occupation of Germany. The June uprising of 1953 became a symbol of the deep crisis of legitimacy in which the ruling elite of the GDR found itself and its planned “construction of socialism.” It became increasingly clear to residents of the former Soviet occupation zone that the self-proclaimed “state of workers and peasants,” created on the Soviet model, ruled not with the people, but against them. The protest of citizens against the new regime and the unbearable living and working conditions in it was so strong that if not for the intervention of “Soviet friends,” the East German leadership would probably have been swept away by massive popular protest.

The June uprising of 1953 in the GDR was truly nationwide. About a million people took part in more than 700 cities and towns in East Germany. Starting as a social protest on the streets of Berlin, the uprising in a matter of hours grew into mass demonstrations against the communist dictatorship throughout the country. Strikes and demonstrations were accompanied by political demands for freedom, democracy and German unification. The frightened party leadership of the GDR sought refuge in the military headquarters of the Soviet occupation forces in the Karlhorst district of Berlin. Through the introduction of a state of emergency and the deployment of Soviet tanks, the uprising was ultimately brutally suppressed. The violence resulted in at least 50 deaths and countless wounded demonstrators (since information about the uprising remained classified in the GDR for many years, the exact number of dead and injured has still not been established). In the following days and months, approximately 15,000 people were arrested, and until 1955, more than 1,800 political sentences were handed down. Some prisoners appeared before a Soviet military tribunal and were sentenced to execution or imprisonment in the Soviet Gulag on the basis of Article 58 of the USSR Criminal Code (therefore, petitions for the rehabilitation of victims of unjust sentences had to be submitted after the collapse of the Soviet Union to the Russian prosecutor's office).

The East German Juneteenth Uprising of 1953 was the first popular protest against the communist dictatorship in the Eastern Bloc. It was followed by "" of 1968, which in many ways shared the fate of the East German protest.

Background and chronicle of the protest

After the end of World War II, the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany faced a radical restructuring of the economic, political and social spheres along the Soviet model. First of all, mass nationalization was carried out here, during which the private sector was replaced by “people's enterprises” ( Volkseigener Betrieb, VEB). In April 1946, the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany was created on the model of the Soviet CPSU ( SED, Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED), which continued the process of nationalization of the private sector and construction of a planned economy after the formation of the German Democratic Republic in October 1949. In particular, the SED continued the collectivization that had begun in the Soviet occupation zone. During the Second Party Conference of the SED, held on July 9-12, 1952, its General Secretary Walter Ulbricht proclaimed a course towards “accelerated construction of the foundations of socialism,” which was to be carried out in the repressive Stalinist-Soviet traditions. There was a forced dispossession of large peasant farms and the creation of “Agricultural production cooperatives” ( Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft, LPG) - analogues of Soviet collective farms. Measures were taken against small owners and private trade.

The first five-year economic development plan (1951-55), introduced according to the Soviet model, provided for the accelerated development of heavy industry, which could not but affect the work of other industries and the production of consumer goods. As a result, many everyday goods and food were in short supply in East Germany: now they could only be obtained by cards. In April 1953, prices for public transport, clothing and many products also increased significantly.

In such a situation, people increasingly “voted with their feet”: there was a mass exodus of residents of the GDR to the territory of West Germany (for example, from June 1952 to May 1953, about 312,000 people left the country - twice as many as a year earlier; only in March 1953, the GDR 50,000 inhabitants left). First of all, highly qualified personnel fled to the West, and this “brain drain” created new economic difficulties.

In a planned economy, the party leadership was seriously concerned with the problem of increasing labor productivity. On May 14, 1953, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the SED, a decision was made “to increase production standards for workers in order to combat economic difficulties.” This decision meant increasing production standards by 10% (and in some areas up to 30%) without a corresponding increase in wages. On May 28, the decision of the Central Committee was published in the following wording:

“The government of the German Democratic Republic welcomes the workers’ initiative to increase production standards. It thanks all the workers who raised their standards for their great patriotic cause. At the same time, it responds to the wishes of workers to revise and raise standards."

This hypocrisy of the party bosses was the last straw, finally dispelling the secret hopes of many residents of the “eastern zone” for the possibility of easier life and work after Stalin’s death. Discontent in the working environment, caused mainly by the arbitrary increase in production standards, reached a critical point on June 15, 1953. Even the so-called “New Course”, adopted hastily by the Politburo of the SED Central Committee on June 9, 1953, did not help. In it, the leadership admitted that there had been some mistakes in the past, and henceforth intended to suspend the pace of development of heavy industry until the supply of the population was improved. However, this cancellation of some measures that caused discontent among the population did not affect the increase in production standards.

On June 15, a delegation from the builders of the Friedrichshain hospital on the Landsbergerallee in East Berlin arrived at the “House of Ministries” on Leipzegerstrasse and demanded a meeting with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR, Otto Grotewohl. He was not there, and the workers handed over to Grotewohl's referent a petition from 300 builders demanding the cancellation of the increase in labor and the reduction of wages before noon on June 16. Members of the delegation promised to return the next day for an answer.

However, on the morning of the next day, June 16, 1953, the workers found an article in the trade union newspaper Tribuna in defense of the policy of increasing production standards. The builders perceived the comment contained in the newspaper, designed to protect the rights of workers, that “the decisions to increase standards are completely correct” as a response to their letter submitted to the authorities the day before. On the same day, workers at an elite construction site on the Stalinallee in East Berlin went on strike. Having stopped work, they headed to the city center, inviting builders from other construction sites along the way: “Colleagues, join us! We want to be free people!” The demonstration, which eventually numbered 10,000 people, headed to the "House of Ministries" on Leipziger Strasse.

A spontaneous rally began here, during which the workers, who mainly demanded the cancellation of the decision to increase production standards, quickly moved on to political demands - the resignation of the government, free elections, the release of political prisoners, the unification of Germany, etc. .

Industry Minister Fritz Selbmann came to the square to meet the protesters that day, promising a return to previous norms. Although the corresponding decision was immediately made at an emergency government meeting, these concessions could no longer stop the workers’ protest. From the “House of Ministries” the demonstrators headed to the construction sites of the Stalinallee, calling for a general strike .

The West Berlin radio station Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) regularly reported on what was happening on the 16th and plans for the 17th. RIAS broadcasts, which were very popular in the GDR (according to American data, 70% of East Germans regularly listened to them), were able to play an important role as a catalyst for protest.

Thanks to them, news of the events in Berlin and the plans for June 17 spread throughout East Germany. The basic demands of the workers were also voiced on the radio: the restoration of previous production and wage standards; immediate reduction in prices for basic products; free and secret elections; amnesty for strikers and speakers.

On the morning of the next day - June 17 - Berlin workers began to gather at factories, line up in columns and head to the city center with slogans: “Down with the government!”, “Down with the People’s Police!” “We don’t want to be slaves, we want to be free people!”, “For free elections!”, “Russians, get out!” By noon, the number of demonstrators in the city reached more than 150,000 people. Protests quickly spread throughout East Germany. In industrial centers - Bitterfeld, Ger, Görlitz, Dresden, Jena, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Halle and other cities - strike committees and workers' councils spontaneously arose, taking power in local enterprises. In some localities, protesters even tried to free prisoners from prisons.

Demonstrators everywhere destroyed symbols of communist power and tore up portraits of Stalin. In Berlin, signs and structures on the borders of the Soviet and Western sectors were destroyed, and the red flag was torn from the Brandenburg Gate.
By mid-day, the Soviet military administration declared a state of emergency in most districts of the GDR (167 out of 217), taking over official power control in the districts. The order of the Soviet military commandant was transmitted by radio: “In order to restore order, a state of emergency is being introduced from 13.00. It is prohibited to hold any demonstrations, do not gather for more than three, do not go out at night, violators of the order will be punished according to the laws of war.”

To suppress the uprising, heavy armored vehicles were brought into the streets of East German cities. Demonstrators greeted Soviet tanks with slogans like “Ivan, go home!”, and someone threw stones at them.
Geology student Erich Kulik from West Berlin, who found himself in the eastern part of the city that day, described the events of that day in his diary:

“At the corner of Friedrichstrasse I looked back for the first time. I became scared when I saw how many people joined the column. Down the street, all the way to the Brandenburg Gate, there was no crowd, the crowd grew and grew...

At the corner of Charlottenstrasse we suddenly heard the roar of approaching tanks and immediately saw demonstrators running away in panic. The head of our column now advanced slowly and cautiously. Tanks appeared on the bridge over the Spree. They increased the gas and moved straight towards us, three heavy tanks walking in a row, and armored cars along the sidewalk. I don’t know how the demonstrators managed to clear the street so quickly and where so many people were able to take refuge. I hid behind the Humboldt monument in front of the university entrance. In the blink of an eye, there was not a single free space left on the high metal fence behind me. The faces of the Russians sitting on the tanks were shining, they were smiling with all their might, waving at us and looking very friendly. The tanks, there were 15 of them, were followed by trucks with infantry, light artillery, a field kitchen and a hospital. Everything is like in war.

About six minutes later, when it was all over, people were still watching the retreating column of equipment. I went to the square in front of the Berlin Cathedral. Not long before this, the Russians had run over an old woman there. “She didn’t have enough strength to run to the side,” eyewitnesses said, “even though the car slowed down, it was too late. They quickly built a small brick tombstone at the scene of the incident, covered it with a black-red-gold flag, and placed a small wooden cross on top.”

And here is a small sketch of the events of June 17, 1953 from the memoirs of another Berlin eyewitness:

“At Lustgarten Square, the official site of SED parades, traces of tanks are visible on the torn up ground and on broken sidewalks. Flower beds were crushed by hundreds of feet - and here tanks rolled into the crowd, and people were saved on the large stone platform, where Ulbricht, Pieck and Grotewohl usually received ovations. At the very top of the podium sit several tired construction workers with a simple sign: “For free elections!” .

When the protesters refused to disperse, shooting began. On that day, 29 people died and hundreds were injured on the streets of East Berlin alone. Thus, with the help of brute force, the first popular uprising in a country that found itself in the sphere of Soviet influence after World War II was suppressed. Next in line were Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Documentary footage of the events of June 17, 1953 in East Berlin:

At 14.00 on the radio Grotewohl read out a government message:

“The measures of the GDR government to improve the situation of the people were marked by fascist and other reactionary elements in West Berlin with provocations and severe violations of order in the democratic “Soviet” sector of Berlin. […] The riots […] are the work of provocateurs and fascist agents of foreign powers and their collaborators from the German capitalist monopolies. These forces are dissatisfied with the democratic government in the GDR, which is organizing an improvement in the situation of the population. The government calls on the population to: support measures to immediately restore order in the city and create conditions for normal and calm work at enterprises. Those responsible for the unrest will be brought to justice and severely punished. We call on workers and all honest citizens to seize the provocateurs and hand them over to government agencies...”

Consequences of the uprising

Although the June protests came as much of a surprise to West Germany as they did to the leadership of the GDR, the unrest in East Germany was declared by SED functionaries to be the result of foreign intervention. The central press organ of the Central Committee of the SED, the newspaper Neues Deutschland, called the incident an “adventure of foreign agents,” a “crime of West Berlin provocateurs,” a “counter-revolution” directed by West German and American politicians from West Berlin, as well as an “attempt at a fascist putsch.”

Frightened by the unexpected mass scale of the protest and the intransigence of the demonstrators, the party leadership directed all efforts to prevent such protests in the future. On July 15, 1953, the Minister of Justice of the GDR, Max Fechter, was expelled from the party, removed from his post, and arrested for “anti-party and anti-state behavior.” Three days later, the Politburo of the SED Central Committee decided to remove Wilhelm Zeisser, Minister of State Security, from his post. At the 15th plenum of the SED Central Committee (July 24-26, 1953), Zeisser was expelled from the Politburo and Central Committee, and in January 1954 from the party.

In September 1953, the Politburo of the SED Central Committee demanded that the state security agencies find “the organizers and instigators of the attempted fascist putsch.” The resolution of September 23 also announced new tasks for the Ministry of Security. Mainly it was about penetration into the enemy’s camp on the territory of West Germany to “reveal enemy plans and intentions,” as well as about intensifying intelligence work inside the GDR “in bourgeois political parties, socio-political mass organizations and church organizations, among the intelligentsia and youth with the goal of uncovering illegal, anti-democratic organizations and groups and eliminating their subversive activities.” The SED Central Committee also drew the attention of the state security authorities “to the need to fundamentally strengthen the work in those areas and regions where a concentration of former Social Democrats, former fascists and bourgeois specialists closely associated with West German interests can be found.” In addition, the Central Committee of the SED demanded that the intelligence services “identify and expose underground organizations with headquarters in West Germany and West Berlin, operating in Magdeburg, Halle, Leipzig, Dresden, Jena and other cities where, during the provocations of June 17, 1953, the greatest fascist violence was observed.” activity".

In November 1953, intelligence agencies launched Operation Fireworks, during which hundreds of alleged "agents" were arrested. Additionally, that same fall, 600 to 700 people were kidnapped in West Berlin and brought into the communist sphere of influence. On December 9, 1953, in response to the events of June 17, “combat squads” were created ( Kampfgruppen), whose members took an oath to “defend the achievements of the state of workers and peasants with arms in hand.” One of the main areas of work of the intelligence services, in addition to strengthening espionage on the territory of its western neighbor, has now become the fight against “internal enemies”.

The main consequences of the uprising, therefore, were the strengthening of the East German state security agencies, the growth of repression and the fight against dissent, as well as the growing isolationism of the GDR, which was finally embodied in the strengthening and closure of the state border on August 13, 1961.

Already in the summer of 1953, June 17 was declared “Day of German Unity” in Germany (in 1990, in connection with the unification of Germany, this day became October 3). In memory of the uprising, the Charlottenburger Alley leading to the Brandenburg Gate along the Tiergarten park was renamed "17 June Street". After the reunification of the country in June 1993, the June 17, 1953 Memorial was opened on Leipzigerstrasse in front of the former “House of Ministries”.

Every year in Germany the number of memorable events and publications related to the June events of 1953 is growing. In the federal states, exhibitions and special projects are constantly organized that systematize information about the chronicle of the protest on the ground, thematic public discussions and meetings with witnesses of the events are held. Video and audio recordings of eyewitness accounts, photographs, teaching materials for schools, etc. are regularly published on the Internet. Events dedicated to the anniversary of the events are of great importance for expanding the collective memory of the June 17 uprising. Thus, in Berlin, the country's leaders and representatives of public organizations annually lay wreaths at the Seestrasse cemetery, where Berliners who died during the uprising are buried. The Bundestag hosts special commemorative events to mark the anniversary of the popular uprising in the GDR.

The importance of efforts to understand the events of June 1953 in the public sphere is evidenced by opinion poll data. Thus, in the early 2000s, surveys revealed a rather low awareness of German citizens about this memorable date. In particular, during a survey conducted by the Emnid Institute for the Study of Public Opinion in June 2001, it turned out that only 43% of respondents knew about what happened on June 16-17, 1953 in the GDR (while among respondents under 29 years of age, not 82% could answer the question correctly. However, just three years later, and just after Germany celebrated the 50th anniversary of the June 2003 uprising, a survey by the Society for Social Research and Statistical Analysis (forsa) showed that the number of competent citizens had risen to 68%. It is noteworthy that the strongest growth was observed among the youngest audience: if before the anniversary date at the beginning of June 72% found it difficult to answer the question about what happened on June 17, 1953, then at the end of the month only 37% did.

For the 60th anniversary of the uprising in 2013, the German federal Foundation for Understanding the SED Dictatorship prepared a special exhibition "". On January 29, 2013, the exhibition opened at the Federal Ministry of Finance of Germany, located today in the same former “House of Ministries” on Leipzigerstrasse in Berlin. During the year, held in the German capital under the theme "", the exhibition will also be presented at other city venues. It will also be shown in over 260 cities and towns across the country this year.

In July 1952, at the Second Conference of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, its General Secretary Walter Ulbricht proclaimed a course for the “planned construction of socialism,” which amounted to the consistent Sovietization of the East German system: measures against small owners and private trade, mass nationalization of enterprises. At the same time, the traditional territorial division was radically reformed (instead of 5 historical “lands”, 14 districts were introduced). According to the Soviet model, heavy industry was intensively developed, which led to a serious shortage of food and consumer goods, and propaganda blamed “speculators and kulaks” for the food crisis. Finally, the creation of the People's Army was announced, and militarization, combined with reparations, had a heavy impact on the country's budget: military spending accounted for 11% of the budget, and together with reparations - 20% of unproductive spending. In this situation, there was a mass exodus of residents to the western zone, primarily highly qualified personnel - a “brain drain” (50 thousand people fled in March 1953 alone), which, in turn, created new economic problems. Political and anti-church repressions also increased. In particular, two evangelical youth organizations, the “Young Community” and the “Evangelical Student Community,” were destroyed and arrested in full.
However, the death of Stalin in March 1953 suspended power pressure and led to a weakening of Soviet control: the Soviet Control Commission was disbanded, replaced by a High Commissioner.
In April 1953, two months before the uprising, there was an increase in prices for public transport, clothing, shoes, baked goods, meat and sugar-containing products. At the same time, the lack of sugar led to a shortage of artificial honey and marmalade, which served as one of the main components of the standard breakfast of most Germans. According to a participant in those events, this already caused a wave of indignation among German workers. The outrage over the rise in price of marmalade met with bewilderment and misunderstanding among the Soviet leadership, who had no idea about the role of marmalade in the diet of German workers, and was perceived as a “marmalade revolt.” In Russian historical literature there is a thesis that the beginning of the development of the crisis of 1953 was largely the “marmalade riot”. But most Russian historians, like historians from other countries, do not use the term “marmalade riot”.
Continuing the course of liberalizing its policies after Stalin’s death, on May 15, the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs presented the leadership of the GDR with a memorandum demanding an end to collectivization and a weakening of repressions. On June 3, the leaders of the GDR were summoned to Moscow, upon returning from which they announced (June 9) the cessation of the systematic construction of socialism, proclaimed the “New Deal,” publicly admitted that mistakes had been made in the past, and planned a slowdown in the development of heavy industry to improve the supply of the population. canceled a number of economic measures that caused sharp discontent among the population.
At the same time, the previously adopted decision of the SED Central Committee “to increase production standards for workers in order to combat economic difficulties” was not canceled. This decision to increase production standards by 10% (and in some areas up to 30%) of production was made at the plenum of the Central Committee on May 14, 1953 and published on May 28 in the following wording: “The government of the German Democratic Republic welcomes the initiative of workers to increase production standards. It "Thanks all the workers who have raised their standards for their great patriotic work. At the same time, it responds to the wishes of the workers to review and raise standards."
The increase in standards was supposed to be introduced gradually and completed by June 30 (W. Ulbricht’s birthday). This caused another strong discontent among the workers.
The leadership of the (communist) trade unions, theoretically called upon to protect the interests of workers, also spoke out in support of raising standards. The historical literature claims that an article in defense of the course to increase production standards that appeared on June 16, 1953 in the trade union newspaper Tribuna was the last straw that overflowed the cup of popular discontent.
After the workers received their salaries and discovered deductions in them, as for shortcomings, fermentation began. On Friday, June 12, the idea arose among workers at a large Berlin construction site (a hospital in the Friedrichshain area) to go on strike. The strike was scheduled for Monday 15 June. On the morning of June 15, Friedrichshain builders refused to go to work and at a general meeting demanded the abolition of the increased standards.
On the morning of June 16, a rumor spread among workers that the police were occupying the hospital in Friedrichshain. After this, about 100 construction workers from the elite party housing projects on Stalin Alley moved towards the hospital to “liberate” their colleagues. From there, the demonstrators, joined by some of the hospital builders, already numbering about 1,500 people, moved to other construction sites. Then the demonstration, which numbered up to 10,000 people, went to the building of the communist trade unions, but, finding it empty, by midday approached the House of Ministries on Leipzigerstrasse. The demonstrators, in addition to reducing production standards, demanded a reduction in prices and the dissolution of the People's Army. A rally began in front of the House of Ministries. Industry Minister Fritz Selbmann, speaking to the strikers, tried to calm the crowd and promised the return of previous production standards (the corresponding decision was immediately made at an emergency government meeting); but this was not successful. The speaker at the rally began to put forward political demands: the unification of Germany, free elections, the release of political prisoners, etc. The crowd called for Ulbricht or Grotewohl, but they did not appear. Demonstrators then marched towards the Stalin Alley construction sites, calling for a general strike and for a protest rally at Strausberger Square the following morning. Cars with loudspeakers were sent to calm the crowd, but demonstrators managed to take possession of one and use it to spread their own messages.
The West Berlin radio station RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) regularly reported on what was happening. At the same time, the journalists deliberately violated the instructions of the American station owners, who demanded that they not interfere in what was happening and limit themselves to dry reporting on the events. The editor of the radio station, Egon Bahr (later a prominent Social Democratic politician), even helped the strikers choose slogans and clearly formulate demands for broadcast on the radio.
The requirements boiled down to four points:
1. Restoration of old wage standards.
2. Immediate reduction in prices for basic products.
3. Free and secret elections.
4. Amnesty for strikers and speakers.
In the evening, the leader of the West Berlin branch of the German Federation of Trade Unions, Ernst Scharnovsky, in a radio speech, called on West Berliners to support the protesters: “Don’t leave them alone! They fight not only for the social rights of workers, but for the general human rights of the entire population of the eastern zone. Join the East Berlin builders movement and take your places on Strausberg Square!
RIAS transmissions played an important catalytic role. Bar himself still believes that if not for RIAS, everything could have ended on June 16. Thanks to these broadcasts, news of the events in Berlin and the plans for the 17th spread throughout East Germany, in turn inciting workers there to take action.
At the same time, there is an opposite Western point of view that the RIAS radio station, on the contrary, betrayed the rebels by reporting the failure of the uprising even before the head of the Soviet sector of Berlin declared a state of emergency, and this significantly reduced the intensity of the uprising.
On the evening of June 16, the West Berlin newspaper Der Abend also called for a general strike in the GDR.
On the morning of June 17 in Berlin there was already a general strike. The workers who gathered at the enterprises lined up in columns there and headed to the city center. Already at 7 o'clock a crowd of 10 thousand had gathered at Strausberger Square. By noon, the number of demonstrators in the city reached 150,000 people. The slogans of the demonstrators were: “Down with the government! Down with the People's Police! “We don’t want to be slaves, we want to be free!” Slogans directed personally against W. Ulbricht gained great popularity: “A beard, belly and glasses are not the will of the people!” “We have no other goal - Goatbeard must leave!” Slogans were also put forward directed against the occupying forces: “Russians, get out!” However, the anti-Soviet slogans, enthusiastically put forward by West Berliners who joined the demonstrators, did not find much support among East Berliners.
Border markers and structures on the borders of the Soviet and western sectors of the city were destroyed. The crowd destroyed police stations, party and government buildings, and newsstands selling communist press. Participants in the unrest destroyed symbols of communist power - flags, posters, portraits, etc. Police barracks were besieged; The rebels also tried to free prisoners from prison. The House of Ministries was destroyed; from there the crowd moved to the Friedrichstadtpalast theater, where a meeting of the SED activists was taking place, and the party leadership hastily evacuated under the protection of Soviet troops to Karlshorst. The city actually found itself in the hands of the riot participants.
The unrest spread throughout East Germany. In industrial centers, strike committees and workers' councils spontaneously arose, taking power in factories and factories into their own hands.
In Dresden, rioters seized a radio station and began broadcasting messages exposing state propaganda; in Halle, newspaper editorial offices were seized; in Bitterfeld, the strike committee sent a telegram to Berlin demanding “the formation of a provisional government composed of revolutionary workers.” According to the latest research, there were unrest in no less than 701 settlements in Germany (and this is apparently still an incomplete number). The official authorities of the GDR estimated the number of participants in the movement at 300 thousand. Other sources estimate the number of striking workers at about 500 thousand, and the total number of demonstrators at 3-4 million out of a population of 18 million and 5.5 million workers (it should be borne in mind that peasants could not take part in the movement).
In total, 250 (according to other sources - 160) government and party buildings were besieged and stormed. The rebels occupied 11 buildings of district councils, 14 offices of the burgomaster, 7 district and 1 district committee of the SED; 9 prisons, 2 buildings of the Ministry of State Security and 12 police institutions (districts and stations) were seized, as a result of which about 1,400 criminals were released. According to official data, 17 SED functionaries were killed and 166 wounded.
Although Soviet troops were largely in control of the situation by June 17, there were also protests in the following days. Most of all on June 18, but in some plants until July. On July 10 and 11, workers went on strike at the Carl Zeiss company in Jena and on July 16 and 17 at the Buna plant in Schkopau. But the scale of the protest on June 17 was no longer achieved.
The largest protests took place in the cities of Dresden, Görlitz, Niski and Riesa. According to the People's Police, there were strikes in 14 of the district's 17 districts.
In Dresden, about 20,000 people gathered in the squares of Theaterplatz, Postplatz, Platz der Einheit, in front of the Neustadt and main stations.
In Görlitz, workers formed a strike committee and systematically occupied the buildings of the SED, state security, mass organizations and the prison. The workers formed a new city government called the City Committee. Prisoners are released. As in Bitterfeld, political demands are formulated, including a revision of the eastern border of the GDR along the Oder-Neisse line. About 50,000 people took part in the demonstration. Only the declaration of a state of emergency and the use of Soviet occupation forces could stop the popular unrest.
Halle district was one of the centers of the uprising. All 22 districts reported strikes and protests. Along with the district capital, industrial centers such as Leuna, Bitterfeld, Wolfen, Weissenfels and Eisleben, but also smaller towns such as Quedlinburg and Köthen were strongholds of the protesters.
Of particular note is the industrial region of Bitterfeld, where a central strike committee coordinated the actions of 30,000 strikers. Purposefully, well-organized workers in Bitterfeld occupied the buildings of the People's Police, the city government, the State Security and the prison in order to paralyze the state apparatus. There were no clashes with the use of weapons for the reason that the head of the district police department Nossek visited the factories in Wolfen and Bitterfeld in the morning and ordered all types of weapons to be stored in weapons storage rooms and thereby effectively disarmed the factory security.
In Hull, 4 demonstrators were shot by police. Around 6 p.m., approximately 60,000 people gathered at the Hallmarkt market square in the city center. Soviet tanks dispersed the protesters.
From the town of Wajda, gun battles between armed miners and the Barracks Police (the predecessor of the National People's Army) are reported.
In the city of Jena, between 10,000 and 20,000 people gather. The buildings of the SED district administration, prison and state security are in the hands of protesters. After declaring a state of emergency at 4 p.m., Soviet occupation forces disperse the crowd. Despite this, large demonstration groups walk through the city center and call for the continuation of protests.
Magdeburg, along with Berlin, Halle, Jena, Görlitz and Leipzig, was one of the centers of events on June 17, 1953.
A protest procession of about 20,000 people formed around 9 a.m. and joined other demonstrators around 11 a.m. Protesters occupy the buildings of the SSNM and SED and the Volksstimme newspaper. Heavy and bloody clashes occur in front of the police headquarters and the prison. Two police officers and one state security officer were killed. The release of the prisoners failed due to the appearance of Soviet soldiers in front of the prison building, who used firearms and shot three demonstrators, including a 16-year-old girl. More than forty (some seriously) wounded demonstrators are recorded.
After lunch, the storming of the pre-trial detention center was successful and 211 prisoners, among them common criminals, were released. The military units stationed in Magdeburg were at that moment in summer camps. In the city there was only a commandant platoon and a military hospital. Events began with the arrival from the West. Germany armed with small arms people. In the GDR itself, only the Soviet Army had weapons. The NPA had not yet been created at that moment, and the people's police did not have weapons. The prison guards were armed only with shepherd dogs. The commandant's platoon managed to organize the defense of the army headquarters and the hospital and repel the attack of the rebels. Military units in summer camps were alerted and sent to the city. However, already on the way they were partially deployed and sent to the demarcation line to provide cover from invasion from the British occupation zone. Mostly motorized riflemen in armored personnel carriers and some tanks returned to the city. Initially, the troops were ordered not to open fire. However, soon a Soviet major was killed in an open armored personnel carrier by a shot from the attic. This was soon followed by permission to use weapons. After which the riots were stopped within a few hours. As soon as fire opened from some attic (the rebels were armed with rifles, machine guns and light machine guns), a tank was called in to fire a aimed shot at the attic. At this time, on the demarcation line, the troops were deployed for battle and dug in according to all the rules, as at the front. At that time, on the other side of the demarcation line, a Cossack unit of Russian emigrants was parading, probably with the goal of crossing the demarcation line and coming to the aid of the rebels. However, having discovered Soviet troops prepared for battle against them, the Cossacks left. There is no doubt that the actions of the rebels were directly directed and well coordinated with the command of the Western occupation forces. It should be especially noted that the East Germans at that moment officially did not have any weapons at all. Even hunting rifles. Even among the police during regular service. But in case of an emergency, they had weapons in storage. They were probably armed with these weapons during the suppression of the rebellion. The events in Magdeburg are described from the words of an officer who participated and witnessed the events.
The GDR government, in turn, turned to the USSR for armed support. In Berlin at that moment there were 16 Soviet regiments with a total number of 20,000 people; in addition, the government could count on a people's police force of 8 thousand people. The fundamental decision on armed intervention was made in Moscow on the evening of the 16th. At night, at the residence of the Soviet occupation administration in Karlshorst, the German delegation consisting of Walter Ulbricht, Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl and Minister of State Security Zeisser met with the Soviet High Commissioner V.S. Semyonov and the commander of the occupation forces Andrei Grechko and discussed with them the details of the actions against the rebels. USSR Interior Minister Lavrentiy Beria urgently flew to Berlin.
The Soviet military administration declared a state of emergency in more than 167 of the country's 217 administrative urban and rural districts (Kreise) on June 17th and 18th.
Around noon on June 17, police and Soviet tanks were deployed against the protesters. Demonstrators threw stones at the tanks and tried to damage their radio antennas. The crowd did not disperse, and Soviet troops opened fire. At 13:00 a state of emergency was declared. At 14-00 on the radio, Grotewohl read out a government message: “The measures of the government of the German Democratic Republic to improve the situation of the people were marked by fascist and other reactionary elements in West Berlin with provocations and severe violations of order in the democratic (Soviet) sector of Berlin. (...) Riots (... ) are the work of provocateurs and fascist agents of foreign powers and their accomplices from the German capitalist monopolies. These forces are dissatisfied with the democratic authorities in the German Democratic Republic, organizing for the improvement of the situation of the population. The government calls on the population: To support measures for the immediate restoration of order in the city and to create conditions for normal and calm work at the enterprises. Those responsible for the riots will be brought to justice and severely punished. We call on the workers and all honest citizens to seize the provocateurs and hand them over to government agencies. (...)".
Clashes between Soviet troops and riot participants and shooting continued until 19-00. The next morning there were again attempts at demonstrations, but they were harshly suppressed. Strikes, however, broke out again sporadically; in July there was a new rise in the strike movement.
On June 25, the Soviet administration announces the end of the state of emergency in the GDR except for Berlin, Magdeburg, Halle, Potsdam, Görlitz, Dessau, Merseburg, Bitterfeld, Cottbus, Dresden, Leipzig, Gera and Jena. On June 29, the state of emergency also ended for Dresden, Cottbus and Potsdam.
In July, a second wave of strikes began in several large enterprises. In the Boone mills, the July 15-17 strikes even exceed the June 17 strike. After this the situation stabilized.
Based on documents declassified in 1990, it can be concluded that at least 125 people died. In particular, the Soviet authorities sentenced 29 people to death. In general, the Soviet High Commissioner Semyonov received an order from Moscow to shoot at least 12 instigators with their names widely published; The first to be shot by the Soviet authorities was 36-year-old unemployed artist Willi Göttling, a father of two children. 100 people were sentenced by Soviet courts to terms ranging from 3 to 25 years, approximately a fifth of them were sent to Soviet camps, the rest were kept in GDR prisons. In total, about 20 thousand people were arrested, of which at least 1,526 were sentenced by German courts (apparently this is an incomplete figure): 2 - to death, 3 - to life imprisonment, 13 - to terms of 10-15 years, 99 - to prison terms 5-10 years, 994 - for terms of 1-5 years and 546 for terms of up to one year.
On the part of the authorities, 5 were killed and 46 policemen were wounded, 14 of them seriously. The total material damage amounted to 500,000 marks.
In the West, the number of victims was greatly exaggerated - for example, the figure was 507 killed.
Modern German researchers Joseph Landau and Tobias Sander note the relative moderation shown by the Soviet authorities in suppressing the unrest: “despite everything, the Soviet occupation power is not as unceremonious and bloodthirsty as the Western world claimed. If the insurgents were treated in this way, the casualties could have been much higher, considering that the Soviets sent several divisions and several hundred tanks.”
The crisis itself did not weaken, but rather strengthened Ulbricht’s position. At that moment, there was strong opposition to Ulbricht and his Stalinist course in the SED (including the leadership), which had every reason to hope for support from Moscow. The crisis allowed Ulbricht to purge the party of his opponents, accused of passivity and social democratic deviation. Thus, by the end of the year, about 60% of the elected district committees of the SED were expelled.
Relying on unconditional Soviet support, the government demonstrated “firmness”: on June 21, the announced restoration of old production standards was canceled; in October prices were increased by 10-25%. On the other hand, the USSR hastened to reduce reparations demands (they now amounted to only 5% of the GDR budget), which improved the financial situation. However, the flight to Germany intensified: if in 1952 136 thousand people fled, then in 1953-331 thousand, in 1954-184 thousand, in 1955-252 thousand.
An immediate consequence of the crisis was also the end of the occupation regime in 1954 and the acquisition of sovereignty by the GDR.
Willy Brandt defines the psychological consequences of the crisis for the residents of the GDR in his memoirs as follows: “It became clear to the rebels that they were left alone. Deep doubts arose about the sincerity of Western policy. The contradiction between big words and small deeds was remembered by everyone and benefited those in power. In the end, people began to settle down as best they could.”
On July 15, 1953, the Minister of Justice of the GDR, Max Fechter, was expelled from the party, removed from his post as minister, and arrested due to “anti-party and anti-state behavior.” Three days later, the Politburo of the SED Central Committee decided to remove the Minister of State Security, Wilhelm Zeisser, from his post. He and the editor-in-chief of the Neues Deutschland newspaper were stripped of all party functions at the 15th plenum of the SED Central Committee (July 24-26, 1953).
On December 9, 1953, “Battle Groups” were created in response to the events of June 17. Their members took an oath to “defend the achievements of the state of workers and peasants with arms in hand.”

On June 17, 1953, an uprising began in the GDR. The protesters seized buildings and demanded a change of government and higher wages. Soviet tanks were greeted with the slogan “Russian Ivan, go home!” Some of the demonstrators' demands were met.

Unpopular decisions

In July 1952, the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Walter Ulbricht, proclaimed a course for the “planned construction of socialism.” It assumed the continuation of militarization, the intensification of class struggle (arrests were carried out among Christians and liberal democrats), as well as the accelerated development of heavy industry.

All these changes were reflected both in the general standard of living and in the work of industries producing consumer goods. Small businesses were eradicated, everyday goods could only be obtained by cards.

The first strikes began in May 1953. On May 13 and 16, 900 workers went on strike at the Leipzig steel plant, and strikes took place at other factories. The demands of the strikers gradually acquired political overtones.

A significant impetus for the start of the protests was the decision of the plenum of the SED Central Committee to increase production standards by 10 percent, that is, East German workers now had to work 10 percent more, while wages were reduced by a quarter.

Marmalade Riot

The 1953 uprising is also sometimes called the "Marmalade Riot". Due to the fact that back in April 1953, there was a shortage of sugar, jam (jam) and preserves in GDR stores. The authors of the book “The Soviet Union in Local Wars and Conflicts” Sergei Lavrenov and Igor Popov wrote that sandwiches with jam were a traditional type of breakfast for the Germans and the disappearance of jam from the counter was met with indignation.

When the protests among the Germans were reported to Moscow, they did not complicate the translation and simply wrote that the Germans were indignant due to the lack of marmalade.

From German, the word Marmelade can be translated as marmalade, jam, or jam.
It is clear that such a reason for discontent could only cause bewilderment among Soviet officials, so these “bells” were not given due attention. Moreover, Stalin died in March - there were more serious reasons for concern in the Union. The USSR leadership turned out to be unprepared for the events of June 17.

Beria vs Molotov

On May 27, 1953, USSR Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov nevertheless brought the issue of the situation in the GDR to a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

At this meeting, it was decided not to force the construction of socialism in the GDR too much, but at the same time to adhere to a “firm line.” The conclusion was drawn: without the presence of Soviet troops, the existing regime in the GDR is unstable.

Everyone was amazed by the speech of the Minister of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria at this meeting. He said: “We only need a peaceful Germany, and whether there is socialism there or not, we don’t care.” It was also then that Beria first voiced the idea of ​​German unification, saying that a united Germany, albeit united on bourgeois principles, would become a serious counterweight to the influence of the United States in Western Europe.

Molotov met this statement by Beria with hostility, saying that “refusal to create a socialist state in Germany will mean disorientation of party forces not only in East Germany, but throughout Eastern Europe as a whole.

And this, in turn, will open up the prospect of capitulation of Eastern European states to the Americans.”

As a result, Beria will be recognized as the main culprit of the Berlin events. Prior to this, he personally ordered the recall to Moscow of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs Commissioner for Germany and his deputies, and also cut the number of employees of his ministry in the GDR by seven times.

"Goatbeard must go!"

On the morning of June 17, 1953, a mass strike began. Columns of workers headed to the East Berlin shopping center, where they began to put forward their demands. From the initial slogans about increasing wages and lowering production standards, the protesters quickly moved to political slogans, to demands for free elections and the unification of Germany.

Slogans against the leadership of the GDR were popular: “A beard, belly and glasses are not the will of the people!” (Bart, Bauch und Brille - das ist nicht der Wille des Volkes) and “Goatbeard must go!”

By this time, the total number of demonstrators had reached 100 thousand people. Clashes began with the police and SED workers. In Berlin, not a single government representative came to the protesters. The police and Soviet troops began to disperse the demonstration.

Criminal demonstrators

There were also strikes and demonstrations in other East German cities and regions. Their centers were primarily the central German industrial region with the cities of Bitterfeld, Halle, Leipzig and Merseburg and the Magdeburg region, and to a lesser extent the regions of Jena-Gera, Brandenburg and Görlitz. There were active rallies in Magdeburg, Görlitz and Dresden.

In Magdeburg, demonstrators stormed the Neustadt detention center and released 211 prisoners, including ordinary criminals. They immediately joined the aggressive part of the protesters. In total, about 1,400 prisoners were released from 12 German prisons. Between 3 and 4 million East Germans took part in the popular unrest. According to recent research, demonstrations and strikes took place in no less than 701 localities in the GDR.

"Russian Ivan, go home!"

Soviet tanks from the 12th Tank and 1st Mechanized Divisions appeared on the streets of Berlin. At the forefront of the conflict was the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces, which was headed by Colonel General Grechko from May 26, 1953.
Moscow had only one instruction: to act “firmly and decisively.” Molotov later recalled about the events in June 1953: “Beria was in Berlin to suppress the uprising - he was great in such cases. We decided to use tanks. I remember that they decided to take drastic measures, to prevent any uprising, to suppress it in the most merciless way. Let's say the Germans rebel against us?! Everything would have been shaken, the imperialists would have entered, it would have been a complete failure.”

Already on the morning of June 17, to block the border with West Berlin, Lavrentiy Beria ordered several rifle companies located in the capital at that time to be raised on alarm and moved to the indicated area.

Soviet tanks were greeted with slogans like “Russian Ivan, go home.” Martial law and a state of emergency were introduced in Berlin.

In total, 16 divisions took part in suppressing the unrest. In Berlin alone there were three divisions with 600 tanks. On the evening of June 17, about 20,000 Soviet soldiers and 15,000 barracks police officers were operating in the city.

Under the pressure of tanks, the demonstrators had to leave the government quarter, but the situation still left much to be desired. The most important enterprises did not work. There was nowhere to print even the text of the order introducing a state of emergency, since the printing houses were on strike. Only after driving the tank into the courtyard of the printing house was it possible to begin printing.

"Help" from Western partners

The demonstrators in East Berlin were supported by the authorities of the western sectors of the city, Germany itself and a number of Western European countries. According to Soviet intelligence, even on the eve of the massive June demonstrations, the number of American and British military personnel in Germany increased by 12,000 people.

With the start of the rallies, tanks, armored personnel carriers and other heavy military equipment began to gather en masse within the borders of the GDR. The American radio station RIAS also moved to the border, and a broad propaganda campaign was launched against the “socialist order” in the GDR.

The USSR High Commissioner to the GDR, Vladimir Semenov, informed Moscow: “C-47 military transport aircraft fly over a number of Soviet objects every day at low altitudes, from which they drop leaflets containing hostile attacks on the Soviet Armed Forces and socialist construction in East Germany.”

However, NATO was ready for military intervention in the USSR. The Minister of State Security of the Soviet Union Ignatiev and the Minister of Defense Marshal Vasilevsky in 1952 approved a plan of action directed against American and NATO strategic military bases in the event of war or local conflicts that got out of control. The plan provided that the first action in the event of a military conflict in Europe should be the destruction of communications at NATO headquarters.

Victims and results

As usually happens, the official data of the GDR on the victims of June 17 (25 people) were underestimated, and the figures given in the West (507 people) were overestimated.

According to the Center for Historical Research in Potsdam, the number of victims confirmed by sources was 55 people. About 20 deaths could not be investigated.

Vladimir Semenov’s report to Moscow reported that by November 5, 1953, the courts of the GDR had convicted 1,240 “participants in provocations,” among whom were 138 former members of Nazi organizations and 23 residents of West Berlin. By the end of January, this number had increased to 1,526 convicts: 2 were sentenced to death, 3 to life imprisonment, 13 to terms of 10-15 years, 99 to terms of 5-10 years, 994 to terms of 1-5 years and 546 for periods up to one year.

The results of the uprising were twofold. On the one hand, the USSR reduced the percentage of reparations, production standards were returned to workers, wages remained the same, and in 1954 the occupation regime was even lifted. On the other hand, Ulbricht's position only strengthened, he got the opportunity to carry out purges among his opponents, and people continued to flee to Germany.