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marched to Grotewohl s office where they GDR government headquarters in the enough to cope with the crisis.
handed the resolution to Grotewohl aides Wilhelmsstraße. Posing a more immediate Throughout the night of June 16 and the
Ambreé and Plaschke who, while accom- threat to the regime, others headed for the early morning of June 17, the news of the
modating some of their grievances, tried party headquarters in the Wilhelm-Pieck Berlin strikes and demonstrations spread
their best to convince the workers that the Street.31 like a wildfire throughout the GDR. Early in
norm increase was necessary. Later, in- There the politburo had gathered for its the morning of June 17, workers assemblies
forming Grotewohl s personal aides, regular Tuesday meeting. It is still unclear in most East Berlin workshops decided to go
Tzschorn and Eisermann, they pointed out how well-informed the politburo was about on strike and march downtown. From all
that some responsibility lay with the  dicta- the developments in the streets of Berlin. East Berlin districts and surrounding sub-
torial enforcement of the norm increase by Under pressure from the marchers, the polit- urbs, crowds were marching on the  Haus
SED Berlin district official Baum, a well- buro, after hours of deliberations, decided to der Ministerien. By 8 a.m., the number of
known hard-liner who  underestimated the revoke the forced norm increase, blaming protesters in front of the building had appar-
situation and  merely portrayed it as work the developments on the cold-blooded man- ently reached 15,000; by 9 a.m., the number
of the enemy, without recognizing that his ner in which individual ministries had imple- had increased to more than 25,000. Accord-
not acknowledging the workers justified mented the measure and on hostile provoca- ing to estimates by West Berlin police, by
demands only amplified the enemy s oppor- teurs who had sowed confusion into the 9:40 a.m. 60,000 people were crowding the
tunities for action. Tzschorn related to ranks of the workers. An increase in produc- streets, headed in the direction of the minis-
Grotewohl that the workers would go on tivity was to be only voluntary. The revoca- tries. The few People s Police officers which
strike if he did not respond satisfactorily, by tion of the forced norm increase, however, the regime had ordered to the scene were
7 a.m. Adding in short-hand to his memo to came too late to satisfy the protesters de- soon overcome. Between 10 a.m. and 11
Grotewohl, Tzschorn, however, noted that mands. So did the earlier appearance of a.m., 80 to 100 demonstrators apparently
according to Baum,  this was a larger opera- Minister Fritz Selbmann and Professor Rob- managed to break the security barriers for
tion apparently controlled from West-Ber- ert Havemann, who had tried in vain to calm the first time and enter the government build-
lin. Strikes have taken place today already the crowds in front of the government head- ings, visibly demonstrating that the People s
on several construction sites. In doing so, quarters. Only in the early afternoon did the Police, State Security, and army had been
they again and again demand a decision by demonstration slowly disperse, with a large overpowered and put on the defensive. Events
prime minister Grotewohl. Underestimat- crowd heading back to the Stalinallee. in East Berlin were mirrored by develop-
ing the explosiveness of the situation and Clashes and demonstrations, however, per- ments throughout the GDR: According to a
misleading Grotewohl on the true origins of sisted until late evening.32 recent estimate, more than 500,000 people
the workers dissatisfaction, Tzschorn ad- Later that night, the Berlin  Parteiaktiv in over 350 East German cities and towns
vised Grotewohl against personally speak- (the most trusted Berlin SED party members marched in defiance of the regime, in some
ing to the workers.30 and activists) met in the Friedrichsstadtpalast. cases raiding prisons and party offices.34
Instead of a high government official, a Demonstrating unity and determination, the The Sokolovskii-Semyenov-Yudin and
union leader and fifteen agitators appeared entire politburo, headed by Grotewohl and SED reports provide interesting numbers for
at the Friedrichshain construction site in the Ulbricht, appeared before the group of nearly the June 17 demonstrations. Generally coin-
early hours of 16 June 1953, apparently sent 3,000 people. Responding to the day s events, ciding with the numbers in the SED report
to persuade the workers to accept the norm Grotewohl and Ulbricht acknowledged mis- and Western accounts, the Soviets estimated
increase. In this highly charged atmosphere, takes by the party leadership and criticized that by 9 a.m. about 30,000 people (SED
the hospital director ordered the gates closed, the  cold administering and police mea- report: 25,000) were demonstrating outside
leading the workers to believe probably sures. Despite these insights, the SED lead- the GDR government buildings. Overall
mistakenly that they would be arrested. ership continued to gravely miscalculate the participation in the demonstrations was esti-
Within a short time, the news had spread to situation:  Yes, mistakes were made, mated at 66,000 people. According to So-
the Block 40 construction site in the Stalin Ulbricht told the Berlin party members, but viet accounts, 80,000 out of 200,000 work- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]