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June Uprising 1953 - Coggle Diagram
June Uprising 1953
Impact
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It is estimated that 20 protestors were executed and 500 received prison sentences and several hundred 'anti-communists' were sent to Siberia.
Did respond to the demands to reduce the work norms. No concessions were made for the political demands though.
Ulbricht announced in the September that economic planning would give priority to consumer goods and the end of food rationing the following year.
Reinforced the increasing unlikelihood of German reunification as Western allies had not intervened.
GDR was soon admitted to the Warsaw Pact as well as the USSR sanctioning the GDR's right to rearm and develop its own armed forces.
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There followed mass arrests, extensive repression, purge of civil service/SED members, reorganisation and re-equipping of the police force.
Increase in pensions, production of more consumer goods, reduction in price of basic items such as milk and coffee.
Events
17th June - 300 builders on a high-profile construction project on Berlin's Stalinallee went on strike.
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Some of the chants changed to a more political tone with demands for the end of the SED, a choice for political party, return of SPD and release of political prisoners.
Actions by protesters included attacks on prisons, police stations, offices and court houses. It also included anti-Soviet messages, Climbing on Brandenburg Gate and setting fire to the Soviet flag.
Soviet Response
Ulbricht was unsure if he had the loyalty of the East German police so appealed to Soviet Union for help.
Over 20,000 Soviet soldiers and 600 tanks stationed in the GDR moved to supress the revolts and impose martial law.
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Government acknowledged the role that workers' grievances played as a cause of the revolt. It blamed Western radio broadcast for encouraging the protestors.
The June Uprising was considered an embarrassment for a government which was supposed to represent the interests of the workers.
Causes
Ulbricht announced the need for industrial productivity to increase by 10% but workers wages remained unchanged.
Widespread resentment led to the first occasion of Soviet troops intervening to suppress dissent in an Eastern Bloc.
Strikes and demonstrations spread throughout Berlin partly as East Germans listened to the news on FRG radio stations.