PODCAST
Radio Presenter: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is the BBC world service, coming to you on this day the 17th of June 1963.
Today is the 10 year anniversary of the uprisings in East Berlin which started with the peaceful demonstration of workers building a memorial to Stalin in Stalinallee.
Their protest against the increased work norms, the lack of consumer goods, high price of food and low pension provisions took them to the Trade Union Head Quarters where they were swiftly joined by others.
The protest quickly became a political one, but when not a single high ranking SED member came out to reason with the crowd, it moved on to the Haus der Ministerien, where the protesters reported contradictory messages.
At first it was conveyed to the crowd that the work norms would be dropped, however the Politburo went on to offer to “reconsider” them. Frustrated, the crowd called for the resignation of the government and an answer to their demands. On the 17th of Jun 1953, between 300, 000 and 372, 000 workers went on strike. Despite this being just 6% of the work force, the impact of the uprising was felt not just in the immediate aftermath, that is to say arrests and such, but also in the psyche of the government. Over to our political commentator with more on the subject.
Political Commentator: That’s right, yet the whole uprising seemed in some ways to have the opposite effect to what the protestors were after.
Ulbricht’s own position seemed to be strengthened after the uprising thanks to Soviet support, for example the arrest of Lavrentii Beria (who ‘failed’ to actively support Ulbricht), which allowed him to consolidate his Stalinist hardline approach to policy.
Afterwards, Ulbricht quite openly eliminated his opponents; men like Zaisser, Herrnstadt and Fecher who had defended the workers’ right to strike. He had them removed from the Central Committee and expelled from the party for factionalism in January 1954.
The political repression continued, of course, with some 6000 arrests, and up to 70,000 civil servants and party members lost their positions.
The influence of the USSR over the GDR must, however, not be down played. The USSR insisted on some concessions to the workers: an increase in pensions and consumer goods as well as the decrease in food prices. Yet in hindsight, it is clear to see that the uprisings comfirmed the need for the USSR to build the GDR up as a separate entity from the FRG: both economically and diplomatically. It turned out to be another tool with which to deepen the division of Germany.
Radio Presenter: Thank you, now we have Konrad Adenauer joining us for some time to remember the day. Tell me, do you think the change to work norms really was the cause for an uprising which left at least 21 people dead, possibly as many 125?
Adenauer: It would be naïve to consider that the only reason, of course it was perhaps the trigger for the initial protest, but it was certainly not the reason behind the mass movement. As I understand it, there were likely two main reasons for protest:
Unstable political extremism. Firstly with the death of Stalin in March the same year, Ulbricht became more vulnerable especially since the new Soviet leadership favoured détente with the West. What’s more is that politicians were beginning to question Ulbricht’s leadership and the direction he was taking, this was to the extent that SED leaders were summoned to Moscow in ’53 and told to stop the move towards collectivization.
Secondly, it’s no secret that the East German economy was depressed, largely due to the sheer number of young skilled people leaving between 1951 and 1953 (about 447, 000). The workers resented the paying high taxes with their low wages, which were then used to imprison them in their own country with armed border guards. All sections of society were under enormous pressure from the government: from farmers to produce to independent businessmen feared their businesses may be taken over.
So you see, the work quotas were just the final straw. They represented all that had been building up in the conscience of the people and the time was right while the government was weak.
Radio Presenter: Thank you for your time Konrad. Now we are going to move on to talk to Walter Ulbricht, the current Head of State for the GDR. Walter, do you believe that the way in which East Germany dealt with the uprising was appropriate? The public were demanding to be listened to and it seems as though they were only answered with violence.
Ulbricht: Violence was a necessary force at the time of the uprising. The mental pollution that had been seeping in from the West was too toxic to not take severe action. We had to turn to the Soviet Union for military support. In total, around 16 Soviet divisions with 20,000 soldiers as well as 8,000 Kasernierte Volkspolizei members were used to stop the Uprising and show the people of East Germany that they had no reason to be so disheartened by the government, despite the attempts by western agencies to disrupt the national stability and legitimacy of the SED.
It was clear that the increasing influence the West was bringing to our people needed to stop and we therefore had to ensure that the public understood the seriousness of going against the successful politics of the GDR.
Radio presenter: Thank you Walter for helping to reflect on the traumatic riots of June 1953. We are now being connected with the USA in order to talk with Dwight Eisenhower who was the American President at the time of the June Uprising. Hello Dwight, can you explain to us the response the US had to the Uprising?
Eisenhower: Of course, well the Soviets and the regime of East German General Secretary Walter Ulbricht had been deciding to unequivocally transform East Germany into a Soviet satellite state. In response, we, the United States, felt that it would be right to show our support for the uprising by establishing a large scale food relief program for East Germans, which was officially announced on July 10 and commenced on July 27.
Under this program, we pledged to distribute $15 million worth of food from 35 distribution centres established in West Berlin, to which East Germans had access through East Berlin. The so called “Eisenhower packages” contained lard, peas, flour, and pasteurized milk. We managed distributed over 5 million packages through these centres to over a million East Germans who were able to gain access to East Berlin.
However, unfortunately in response, the East German Government cut off rail and bus traffic to West Berlin. The program put Ulbricht on the defensive and extended the atmosphere of crisis across East Germany. As we continued food, many Western European governments grew apprehensive that Soviet military action against West Berlin was a real possibility. The campaign also experienced diminishing returns as the East German regime tightened control over the population and prevented people from receiving the aid. Sadly, our campaign had to end in early October.
The response we had was naturally spurred on by a desire to try to weaken the Communist hold over the GDR.
Radio presenter: Thank you Eisenhower for your insights. Finally, we will now talk to Gunther Abeln, a citizen of the GDR who was affected by the June Uprising. Gunther, what was the public opinion at the time of the Uprising?
Gunther: We were all very worried. Worried about how the SED could further control parts of our life. Worried that more and more failed plans would surround us. I am a farmer you see, and so it was apparent that at some point my farm would be taken over. The same went for most private businesses- there was such a chance that our life would be taken away from us.
Of course, the many problems of increased work norms, a lack of consumer goods, a high price of food and too low pension provisions made us feel as though we were being subjugated, especially when we heard the stories of prosperity from West Berlin. You see, we had to show the government how we felt, as it was becoming increasingly harder to get your voice heard.
However, we did not expect the extreme violence from the many Soviet troops brought in. Too many died that day, too many were imprisoned for wanting to be heard. But, things are better now. We can live separately from the West- it's easier.
Radio presenter: Thank you Gunther. There you have it, the report on the events of the June 1953 uprising, 10 years ago.