Memorial to the 17 June 1953 Uprising
In memory of the East German protest march
At the uprising of 17 June 1953 in East Germany around one million people participated in largely peaceful protests in East Berlin and across the GDR against the political and economic situation in the GDR. The uprising is violently put down and many demonstrators lose their lives.
With massive military deployment, the protest on 17 June is put down by Soviet and East German military. Numerous demonstrators are killed or injured.
The "Memorial to the Events of the Seventeenth of June Nineteen Hundred and Fifty-three" by Wolfgang Rüppel has been in place in front of the Federal Ministry of Finance building since June 2000. The glass image, which as has been sunken into the ground, shows a photo of strikers marching to the building known as the House of Ministries at that time - shortly before the demonstration was broken up using great violence and the loss of many lives..
Information boards report on the prehistory and the course of the protest march.
