(Süddeutsche Zeitung Archiv, photographer unknown, June 17, 1953)
Repression of the Uprising
After protests on June 16, GDR and Soviet leadership anticipated more protests the next day but were still unprepared; when the uprising threatened to topple the SED, the Soviet military was brought in to suppress the revolution.
After the protests on June 16, more police were deployed in anticipation of another protest.
"Units of the Barracked Police totaling 1,100 men are being called from Oranienburg and Potsdam to reinforce the Berlin city police forces."
Vladimir Semyonov and Andrei Grechko (Commander-in-Chief of the SMAD), letter to Vyacheslav Molotov (Minister of Foreign affairs of the USSR) and Nikolai Bulganin (MInister of Defence of the USSR)
"[On June 17] around 10:30 a.m. we evacuated the members of the CC SED Politburo and several members of the GDR government"
Sokolovskii et al., On the Events of 17-19 June 1953 in Berlin and the GDR and Certain Conclusions from these Events
Once the protests became a threat to the SED, the USSR took control and took measures to suppress the uprising.
"
At 12:00 p.m., U-Bahn and S-Bahn traffic stopped as per our instruction in order to impede the arrival of provocateurs from West Berlin.
At 1 p.m., martial law was declared in Berlin."
-Semyonov, telegram to Vyacheslav Molotov and Nikolai Bulganin
(AP/Picture alliance, photographer unknown, protesters throw stones at Soviet tanks)
"With the intention
to restore public order and terminate the anti-government demonstrations which have occurred, martial law has been declared"
Grechko and Tarasov, letter to Nikolai Bulganin
(Photagrapher unknown, Soviet T34/85 Tank in Berlin, June 17, 1953)
"To restore order,
the 2nd Mechanized Army, consisting of the 1st and the 14th mechanized divisions and the 12th tank division,
was brought into Berlin"
-Grechko and Tarasov, letter to Nikolai Bulganin
"One hundred twenty-five men and women died in the course of the riots which were put down by Soviet tanks"
-Christian Ostermann, The United States, the East German Uprising of 1953, and the Limits of Rollback
"The unrest that ensued is the work of agents provocateurs and fascist agents of foreign powers and their accomplices from German capitalist monopolies"
Statement by the Government of the GDR, 17 June, 1953. Published in the state controlled newspaper Neues Deutschland on June 18
"
209 people were killed and wounded, and
3,351 people were detained on the territory of the German Democratic Republic. Of these, 90 people were wounded and 2,414 were detained in Berlin."
-Grechko and Tarasov, report to Nikolai Bulganin, June 18th, 1953
"Following a first wave of arrests on June 18, an estimated 13,000 people were arrested throughout late June and July in response to the uprising"
Ostermann, The United States, the East German Uprising of 1953, and the Limits of Rollback