GDR uprisings of discontent

June 17, 1953

Following the introduction of new work quotas for industrial workers and the demand for higher productivity without any increase of pay, between half a million and a million demonstrators in East Berlin take to the streets. The uprising is crushed by Soviet troops. The West claims that about 500 people are killed, while the GDR maintains that fatalities numbered only 29. Today?s records give a death count of 55.