History Repeating
Explored 18 June, 2023
Actually, I'd wanted to upload something sunshiny and summery for Sliders Sunday, but then I remembered that 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of 17 June 1953, the Day of the East German Uprising. The uprising started on June 16 in East Berlin. Construction workers had decided to strike against unbearable work quotas. The momentum of this strike spread across the GDR and accumulated in a massive uprising in numerous East German cities and villages against the East German Government and the SED (the Socialist Unity Party). Workers were joined by students, people demanded free elections and the release of all political prisoners. Just like in Prague 15 years later, the East German Uprising could only be brutally stopped by Soviet forces who sent tanks to the streets of East Berlin. More than 50 people were killed during the uprising, several more were sentenced to death later. In West Germany and West Berlin, 17 June was celebrated as a public holiday until 1990 when it was replaced by the Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day) which we celebrate each year on 3 October.
This photo doesn't have a direct connection to 17 June, it is related to the German division in general and specifically to the Berlin Wall since the White Crosses memorial remembers the people who were killed in their attempt of fleeing the GDR. The last victim of the Berlin Wall and the German division, Chris Gueffroy, was shot on 5 February 1989, only nine months before the Berlin Wall fell. He was only 20 years old.
In this particular spot in Berlin's government district, the border between West and East Berlin ran right through the river Spree. In fact, the opposite side of the Spree where you can now see the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, one of many government buildings in the Mitte district, belonged to East Berlin, while this side of the Spree, the Reichstag building included, belonged partly to West Berlin. The white, highlighted strip in the lower right corner (next to the steps) marks the course of the Berlin Wall.
History Repeating
Explored 18 June, 2023
Actually, I'd wanted to upload something sunshiny and summery for Sliders Sunday, but then I remembered that 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of 17 June 1953, the Day of the East German Uprising. The uprising started on June 16 in East Berlin. Construction workers had decided to strike against unbearable work quotas. The momentum of this strike spread across the GDR and accumulated in a massive uprising in numerous East German cities and villages against the East German Government and the SED (the Socialist Unity Party). Workers were joined by students, people demanded free elections and the release of all political prisoners. Just like in Prague 15 years later, the East German Uprising could only be brutally stopped by Soviet forces who sent tanks to the streets of East Berlin. More than 50 people were killed during the uprising, several more were sentenced to death later. In West Germany and West Berlin, 17 June was celebrated as a public holiday until 1990 when it was replaced by the Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day) which we celebrate each year on 3 October.
This photo doesn't have a direct connection to 17 June, it is related to the German division in general and specifically to the Berlin Wall since the White Crosses memorial remembers the people who were killed in their attempt of fleeing the GDR. The last victim of the Berlin Wall and the German division, Chris Gueffroy, was shot on 5 February 1989, only nine months before the Berlin Wall fell. He was only 20 years old.
In this particular spot in Berlin's government district, the border between West and East Berlin ran right through the river Spree. In fact, the opposite side of the Spree where you can now see the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, one of many government buildings in the Mitte district, belonged to East Berlin, while this side of the Spree, the Reichstag building included, belonged partly to West Berlin. The white, highlighted strip in the lower right corner (next to the steps) marks the course of the Berlin Wall.