Commemorating the Popular Uprising in East Germany
The German federal government and Berlin Senate have commemorated the victims of the Popular Uprising in East Germany that was suppressed 62 years ago.
Berlin (dpa) – On 17 June the German government and Berlin Senate commemorated the victims of the Popular Uprising in East Germany suppressed 62 years ago. German Federal Minister of Labour Andrea Nahles and Berlin’s Lord Mayor Michael Müller laid wreathes at a cemetery in Berlin on Wednesday.
Campaign against oppression
Nahles said that 17 June 1953 was a day in Germany’s history of liberation that citizens could look back on with pride. The uprising called on us all, wherever we are in the world, to stand up against oppression and violence, she continued. Memories of it must therefore be preserved, Nahles concluded, as the East German leaders had until the very end tried to suffocate any memory of the 1953 Uprising.
62 years ago in around 700 towns in East Germany more than one million people took to the streets. The uprising was crushed by Red Army tanks. According to figures from Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam 50 citizens involved in the uprising were killed, as were five members of the East German Security Forces.
Commemorating the Popular Uprising in East Germany on 17 June 1953
