195316–17 June 1953 · East Berlin

East German uprising of 17 June 1953

Max Lingner's socialist mural on the former House of Ministries, where strikers massed on 17 June 1953 — Photo: Fernando Pascullo. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Building workers on East Berlin's Stalinallee downed tools on 16 June 1953 over higher work quotas. Next day strikes and protests spread to hundreds of towns, with calls for free elections. Soviet tanks and East German police put the rising down, and dozens of people were killed. It was the first mass revolt in the Soviet bloc, and West Germany made 17 June its national day.

Revolutions & Resistance
Political History
Berlin, Germany

Sites

Site 1: Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus (former House of Ministries)Where crowds massed on 17 June, with a memorial facing its socialist mural.Map ↗
Site 2: Karl-Marx-Allee at Strausberger PlatzMonumental 1950s boulevard where the building workers' strike began.Map ↗