By Gunnar Schupelius
The memory of the popular uprising of 1953 has long since faded and been exhausted, and the official commemoration rituals receive little attention. But the war against Ukraine may make us aware of the importance of this day again, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Officials will commemorate the victims of the 1953 uprising on Friday. The federal government and the Berlin Senate lay wreaths at the memorial sites on Leipziger Strasse and at the Seestrasse cemetery.
On June 17, 1953, around a million demonstrators in East Berlin and at 700 other locations in the GDR demanded better living conditions and freedom. 600 companies were on strike and 140 party or administration buildings were stormed, political prisoners were freed.
The Soviet army crushed the uprising with 16 divisions and 20,000 soldiers. A total of 68 unarmed demonstrators were shot dead, 15,000 arrested and sentenced to heavy penalties.
It was the day when the real face of the Soviet regime behind the GDR leadership really showed itself to everyone who had not yet recognized it. The willingness to use violence and the merciless harshness of the Russian officers and the inhuman attitude of the political leadership dug deep into the consciousness of the whole country.
In the West, June 17 was declared a public holiday, and the Charlottenburger Chaussee in the Tiergarten was given the name Straße des 17. Juni. The day was understood as a reminder of the fight for democracy and was also celebrated as such, initially with a large participation of the population, which is no longer conceivable today. In the GDR, the victims and members of the opposition celebrated quietly and in secret.
After reunification in 1990, June 17 was dropped from the list of public holidays, and October 3 took its place as the Day of German Unity.
Since then, the day of the uprising and its significance have faded from public awareness, with government commemoration rituals hanging in the air, little noticed.
Maybe that will change in the future, because this year the day is gaining in importance. Again the Kremlin uses unimaginable violence. Vladimir Putin’s regime is crushing Ukraine.
“There, too, today is about the values of June 17th. And there, too, people are sacrificing their lives for it.” This is how the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) put it on Thursday.
Today, as then, only the resolute common resistance of the free countries helps against aggression. That is indeed the message of June 17th.
This date is “the real holiday and as a commemoration day more important than October 3rd,” said the former GDR civil rights activist Roland Jahn, who headed the Stasi documents authority, “because at the end of the day the demands of the people who died in the popular uprising in 1953 took to the streets have been realised.”
That’s correct. But on this June 17, the freedom we won in Europe in 1990 seems to be in danger again.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]
