Remembering 17 June 1953 in 1989

Abstract

In the autumn of 1989, hundreds of thousands of East German citizens protested for the removal of the SED and for a better form of socialism in towns and cities across the GDR. These demonstrations, which ultimately culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the SED regime, evoked memories and thoughts of the uprising of 17 June 1953 in the minds of state functionaries, such as Erich Mielke. But were citizens also thinking of the events of 1953? Although the files of the state authorities show that no public mention of 17 June 1953 was recorded during the demonstrations that took place in Magdeburg in the autumn of 1989, one might expect interviewees (eyewitnesses of the June uprising in particular) to recollect that their thoughts turned to the events of 1953. One might also expect that this was the one point in the history of the GDR in which memories or awareness of the June uprising were most likely to affect the behaviour of citizens. This was certainly the case for eyewitnesses of the earlier uprising in the GDR with whom I spoke. By their accounts, the most prominent memories of 1953 that resurfaced in their minds in 1989 were those of acts of violence that they had experienced first-hand during the June uprising. Such memories provoked feelings of fear in them and deterred many from taking part in demonstrations in 1989.