55th anniversary of the GDR uprising

On June 17th 1953, public protests in the former GDR (Eastern Germany) were violently broken up by Red Army tanks.
About one million people in over 700 towns and villages - seriously, this protest went through the entire strata of society - participated in the action with work stoppages and demonstrations. Over 100,000 protestors had gathered alone in East Berlin.

Orginally, the action had been focused on an increase in work norms by 10% (effectively 10% more work for the same money) in the construction field, but these demands became more political. SED functionaries went out into the street to attempt to diffuse the situation without success and the workers demanded the dissolution of the East German government. Local councils were broken up, political prisoners were released too.
The government in turn went to the Soviet Union for miltary support.

Around 16 Soviet divisions with 20,000 soldiers as well as Kasernierte Vokspolizei were engaged.
Major stand-offs occured along Unter den Linden where troops opened fire on protestors and several people were shot dead around Potsdamer Platz. It still isn't clear how many died during the uprising and by the death sentences which followed. The number of known victims is 55, other estimates are higher.

West Germany established 17 June as a national holiday, called "Day of German Unity" in memory of the 1953 East German rebellion, which after the German reunification in October 1990 was moved to 3 October, the date of formal reunification. Charlottenburger Chaussee in Berlin was also renamed Straße des 17. Juni (English: "17th June Street").
The event was also captured in Berholt Brecht's piece *Die Lösung":


The Solution

After the uprising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writers Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

So why has such a large event become forgotten?
According to Markus Meckel, head of the Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, schools often do not teach about the GDR which means that young people take their picture of that time from films such as "Sonnenallee" or "Goodbye Lenin" and think that the GDR was funny, cute and only slightly backward. That "Das Leben der Anderen" was a much more accurate picture of the involvement of the SED in daily life doesn't appear to reach young people.
Which might explain quite a bit of Ostalgie?

ZDF Mediathek: Interview with Markus Meckel
Wikipedia: 17. Juni 1953, Wikipedia: 17th June 1953

There is a whole street in Berlin dedicated to it.

Straße des 17. Juni

Every CSD parade/love parade/football fan mile in Berlin is based here.

I think it is well dedicated to the remembrance of the uprising.

As mentioned above:


It's actually my mother-in-law's birthday, she was most disappointed when the public holiday got moved!

I think the symbolism of naming the street meant a lot more at the time, it was a constant reminder seeing it there on the map.

for some odd reason the GDR is some sub-cult trend...forgive me, but wasnt the DDR considered trading one dictator for another? Wasnt it a brutal, shameful, dark part of German history as well? or do they always bannish former leaders for psychological brutality and human rights abuses?

If these douches like wearing GDR t-shirts, why not go ahead a wear a hermann Goering shirt...if you could even fit his image on the shirt?

the same for those twats that wear those che guevara shirts...totally naive to the fact that he was considered the Heinrich Himmler of Latin America, but more brutal and cold blooded.

I went to Berlin a couple of months ago and walked in the Tiergarten along Strasse de Juni 17th to Brandenburg Gate. I left Berlin wondering what was the significance of this date as I knew it had to be quite important to have a large street named in it's honor. I even asked a couple of Berliners and even they couldn't tell me. When I arrived back home I did some research and here's some info I found about a man who lead the movement on this date.

On this anniversary it's important to recognize the people behind the movement because without Mr. Pahling's bravery this date wouldn't have any historical significance.

http://www.volksaufstand-1953.de/english/english.htm

According to Mr. Pahling these were the demands:

"We listed in our factory, the former Reichsbahnbau-Union (railway), a catalogue of demands, which basically contained the following":

a) resignation of the government
b)abolition zone borders
c) free elections in all Germany and
d) immediate release of all political prisoners

These demands were the basis of their strike and revolt against the government.

I'm astounded that a Berliner, nay any German, couldn't tell you the significance of that date...at least if they were over 30.

Every Berliner I know know the significance of 17th June.