The establishment in 1949 of the DDR, that's
East Germany you’ll remember, formally created
a socialist German state inside the Soviet
sphere of influence. It is easy to then fall
into the trap that from that point until the
fall of the Berlin wall 40 years later, that
all members of East German society were firm
and loyal supporters of the Communist SED
government. Or at least,that there wasn’t
a tremendous opposition to the SED. The fact
that there was indeed opposition and in fact,
an open revolt, can often be overlooked. Before
the Prague Spring and even before the Hungarian
Revolution there was the East German Uprising
of 1953. What, you’ve never really heard
of it? Don’t feel bad, lots of people haven’t.
I’m your host David and that’s right,
today we are going to talk about the 1953
East German Uprising. This is...The Cold War.
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The division of Germany in the wake of the
Second World War resulted in two very different
countries, each pursuing very different ends.
Each was aligned to a larger political and
economic alliance from which they drew their
support. East Germany, controlled by the SED
and pursuing the goals of state socialism,
was widely considered a satellite of the Soviet
Union and very much under the thumb of Moscow.
West Germany for its part was integrating
its economy to the capitalist West, and boosted
by aid from the Marshall Plan, was enjoying
large-scale economic growth. By the early
1950’s, the economic gap between the FDR
and the DDR was widening significantly, resulting
in the so-called Republikflucht, the mass
migration of Germans from the East to the
West. Keep in mind, at this point in time,
there was no physical barrier, no Wall, separating
the two countries; slipping across the border
was simply a matter of walking.
So at this point it is well worth exploring
WHY there was such a widening gap between
the economic situation in the two countries.
The first reason was simple: the economy of
eastern Germany, which had long specialized
in producing consumer goods, had lost access
to its primary market, western Germany! They
had also lost access to their main source
of industrial goods which they had used to
produce those consumer goods in the first
place. The second reason for the lagging East
German economy is related to the first one,
which makes sense, as the traditional consumer
goods industry was being forced to convert
to heavy industry. This was done at the insistence
of the Soviet Union, and was well inline with
Soviet demands being made in other East Bloc
nations.
The third reason was that, unlike West Germany
which was receiving cash infusions from Marshall
Plan aid to help boost its economy, East Germany
was being forced to pay reparations to the
Soviet Union. These reparations came in the
form of the confiscation of what heavy industry
there was or by means of the formation of
joint German-Soviet enterprises where revenues
were claimed by the Soviet part of the venture.
It has been estimated that between 1946 and
1953, East Germany paid an astonishing 14
BILLION dollars to the USSR, either directly
or indirectly. By 1949, 100 percent of the
East German automotive industry, between 90
and 100 percent of the chemicals industries
and 93 percent of the fuel industry were under
Soviet control. By 1952, when the military
commitments also demanded by the Soviets were
added to these industrial reparations, a full
20 percent of the East German budget was consumed.
So, we have a stagnating East German economy.
The response to this from Walter Ulbrecht,
leader of the SED and therefore the DDR was
the announcement that a fully socialist economy
would be systematically introduced. For those
of you who may not know what that means, it
was the introduction of a fully planned economy.
Along with this, came the announcement of
increased work quotas, which in practice meant
that workers had to produce more but for the
same salary. Coupled with this was that workers
would receive LESS salary if the new higher
quotas were not met. Also introduced at the
same time was a package of higher taxes and
higher prices for goods...put simply, this
all hurt the overall welfare of a citizen
in East Germany. These changes were all set
to take effect on June 30, 1953, Walter Ulbrecht’s
birthday. Happy Birthday genosse Ulbrecht!
Now, it’s important to point out that early
1953 saw a massive change in the Soviet Union,
which of course had massive repercussions
throughout its allied nations. I am of course
referring to The Death of Stalin; no, not
the movie. Although the movie is great...you
really should go check it out. What I AM referring
to is of course the actual death of Joseph
Stalin and the leadership change that occurred
afterwards.
In June of 1953, this new Soviet leadership
invited the top SED members to Moscow. Ostensibly,
it was done to foster new relations between
the new leaders of the Soviet Union as well
as demonstrate that the two countries formed
a partnership of equality between two independent
nations however the reality was slightly different.
Or totally different, really.
The Soviets were concerned over the mass exodus
of East Germans to the west and the disruption
it was causing the East German economy. Malenkov
even referred to economic impact as a “catastrophe”.
So, with these concerns in mind, the Soviets
imposed a change of policy in the DDR. They
called for an end to the forced collectivization
of agriculture and even an end against the
war on private enterprise. They also called
for a revision of the plans for heavy industry
and a relaxation on political-judicial controls
and regimentation, including the persecution
of the Protestant churches. Lastly, the Soviet
revision included a promise of substantial
aid and relief in German reparations payments.
Under these new guidelines, the SED announced
the Neur Kurs or New Course in June. Included
in the New COurse was a general amnesty for
all East German refugees, assistance to small
and medium private enterprises, a relaxation
on interzonal travel residency permits as
well as a reissuing of ration cards to those
in the middle class. It should be pointed
out that the work quota however, was not actually
revised, leaving the working class with higher
quotas for the same pay. That aside, if you
think that these changes would have helped
ease resentment and anger in the DDR, well,
you’d be wrong. Not only were workers still
upset but not the SED was being viewed as
weak and politically bankrupt as a result
of such a drastic about face in policy! There
is just no making some people happy…
And just how did these unhappy people react?
Well, like a French farmer who just found
out the price of wine and baguettes was going
up, the people took to the streets in protest.
Strikes broke out across the DDR, in places
such as Eisleben, Finsterwalde, and Chemnitz-Borna.
By June 16, the protests had spread to Berlin
as hundreds of construction workers marched
from Stalin Allee towards the Alexanderplatz.
That crowd grew from hundreds to tens of thousands
as the day progressed. At first, the slogans
and shouts from the crowd were economic in
nature; “We are workers, not slaves” and
“we demand the reduction of work quotas”,
however as the protest grew, the calls became
more political, turning against the government.
The Volkspolizei quickly lost any control
over the protest. With over 20 thousand people
gathered, the demands for Ulbrecht and Grotewohl,
the Prime Minister, to address the crowd grew.
The SED leadership, desperate to regain control
of the situation, announced over loudspeakers
the decision to annul the increased work quotas,
but by that point, the crowd wanted far more,
desiring real political change. Calls for
a general strike were circulating around Berlin
and there were reports of government officials
being attacked in their cars. Propaganda posters,
common across the city, were being torn down.
A revolution had begun that the state security
apparatus was unable to contain.
On the morning of the 17th of June, more than
40 thousand protesters gathered in East Berlin,
calling for the resignation of the SED government
and for free elections to be held. The SED
response was swift and unflinching in the
face of these demonstrations. They requested
the intervention of the Soviet troops stationed
in East Berlin and tanks rolled into the streets.
The protesters, unarmed, stood no chance.
It is estimated that anywhere between 55 and
125 people were killed as the protests were
forcibly put down while thousands more were
arrested. Between 20 and 40 people were executed
for their roles in the protests, including,
interestingly, some Soviet troops for their
unwillingness to obey orders in suppressing
the revolt.
Of course, these protests weren’t only confined
to Berlin. Demonstrations broke out across
the DDR in almost all major cities including
Dresden, Leipzig, Frankfurt an der Oder, Falkensee,
Magdeburg and Halle. Protesters tore down
government propaganda, released prisoners
from jails and in some cases, like in Halle,
Wolfen, Marseburg and other towns, organizations
were formed that even took over executive
power in the region. In Bitterfeld, the committee
even demanded from the central government
“the formation of a provisional government
composed of revolutionary workers”. The
Soviet Army, as you can expect, crushed these
protesters as well, although government control
was not firmly reestablished everywhere until
as late as June 24th.
OK, so open revolt happens, it is forcibly
crushed. Then what happens, right? Well, the
East German government responded with a propaganda
campaign blaming West German provocateurs
for causing the disruption to public order.
A disruption which, of course, true East German
workers did not join. Was there any truth
to this? Well, there is nothing to suggest
that there was any deliberate action from
the West Germans and their allies to foment
a revolt. An internal SED report put some
blame on Western propaganda, namely RIAS,
Radio in the American Sector, for highlighting
the gap in living standards between East and
West as well as generally spreading information
regarding the protests as they happened, creating
the impression that “the strikes of the
construction workers were becoming a broad
movement among the entire population”. Maybe
a bit of a tail wagging the dog situation?
The reaction in West Germany was one of...inaction.
Although arming the protestors was briefly
contemplated by Chancellor Adenhaur, nothing
further was done for fear of destabilizing
the security situation. Nobody wanted to risk
war between East and West.
And finally, what happened in East Germany??
Generally, the East German citizenry lost
any faith they had in the SED and its legitimacy.
Hundreds of workers across the DDR resigned
from the party. Ulbrecht, as head of the SED,
lost much of his support on the Central Committee
and only managed to retain his position because
of turmoil in Moscow. Set to be removed from
office with the support of hardliners in Moscow,
the arrest of Lavrenty Beria at the end of
June set a new path. The changed Soviet leadership
felt consistency in East Germany was more
important, and instead of Ulbrecht being removed,
the hardliners in the SED were forced out
instead!
In the long term, the Staatssicherheitsdienst,the
State Police, better known as the Stasi, expanded
dramatically their monitoring of the people,
especially workers, looking to avoid a repeat
of the 1953 Uprising. While the New Course
policies were followed through on, improving
the overall quality of life in the DDR, the
East German people took the lesson that open
revolt would be met by force and it wouldn’t
happen again until 1989. We all know the different
results then.
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