Commemoration of GDR popular uprising
Chancellor: June 17, a proud event in the history of freedom
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (2nd from left) at the central commemoration ceremony for the victims of the popular uprising of June 17, 1953. Photo
© Joerg Carstensen/dpa
On the 70th anniversary of the people’s uprising in the GDR, the assembled heads of state honored the courageous people of the time.
According to the documents, the 35-year-old Willi Göttling was the first to be shot dead as a result of the East German uprising of June 17, 1953. On Saturday, the Berlin family man was the first to be solemnly remembered at the commemoration of the victims of the crackdown. Young people presented four fates at the Seestrasse Cemetery in former West Berlin before Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid tribute to what happened back then.
“The popular uprising of June 17, 1953 in the GDR is one of the most important and proudest events in the history of freedom in our country,” said the SPD politician to the assembled heads of state, including Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, and Bundesrat President Peter Tschentscher and the President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Stephan Harbarth.
In the GDR, the popular uprising was a big taboo, said Scholz. “Those in power didn’t want to talk about it and the citizens weren’t allowed to talk about it.” In the Federal Republic, the memory of June 17th was cultivated. But this was considered a tragic failure. For a long time, the perception prevailed that the victims of the uprising had been in vain.
“Big vision of freedom and self-determination”
“But these sacrifices were not in vain, we see that more clearly today,” said the Chancellor. During the peaceful revolution in the GDR in 1989, the “great vision of freedom and self-determination” was realized. The 1989 demonstrators did not refer to their 1953 predecessors because they knew little about them. Nevertheless, there is “a direct line” between the two events.
On June 17, 1953, around a million people went on strike and demonstrated in East Berlin and at 700 other locations in the GDR. They demanded higher wages, lower prices and more prosperity, but also free elections and an end to the division of Germany. The Soviet occupying power put down the protests together with the GDR authorities. At least 55 people were killed and more than 10,000 arrested.
On Thursday and Friday, the Bundestag and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier recognized the courage of those involved at the time. On Saturday morning, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner already laid a wreath at the historic scene of the uprising at what was then the House of Ministries, where the Federal Ministry of Finance is located today.
She is pleased that the commemoration of the 70th anniversary is so well received, said the head of the Federal Foundation for Work-Up, Anna Kaminsky, of the German Press Agency on the sidelines of the wreath-laying ceremony. But she insisted on remembering more lastingly. The important events during the division of Germany should be taught in schools, said Kaminsky.
Schneider: Topic for the curricula
The Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Europe, Carsten Schneider, also advocated this. GDR history should play a bigger role in the curriculum, the SPD politician told SWR. CDU leader Friedrich Merz also called for more scientific engagement with the topic on Friday evening. To this day, there is not a single chair for GDR research at a German university, criticized Merz.
June 17 was commemorated in many places on Saturday. Former Federal President Joachim Gauck warned in Chemnitz that even today it is important to support those all over the world who courageously stand up for freedom, democracy and justice. “Solidarity is now growing from our memories of the past,” said Gauck.
In Saxony-Anhalt, President of the State Parliament Gunnar Schellenberger spoke of a key date. In Jena, Thuringia commemorated the worker Alfred Diener with a plaque, who was shot at the age of 26 in the Soviet military command in Weimar. In Brandenburg, Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) called the uprising a “symbol of the people’s will for freedom”. CDU country chief Jan Redmann suggested making June 17 an additional all-German holiday.
The Federal Republic had declared June 17, 1953 as a public holiday. However, the significance of the uprising was long lost sight of. October 3rd has been German Unity Day since 1990.