C. I.1.a. East Germany (GDR) 1953

Volume One -> C. Popular Resistance in Communist Regimes -> C. I. The Soviet Bloc -> C. I.1. The Soviet Bloc 1950s-1970s: Major Resistance Movements -> C. I.1.a. East Germany (GDR) 1953

The German Democratic Republic was the first European Communist state to respond to the death of Stalin. A general strike, called in June 1953, was crushed by tanks. The intellectuals remained silent in June 1953, but during 1956 some responded to the ferment of ideas and activities in Poland and Hungary, though this ‘revisionism’ was subsequently crushed.

Uprising in East Germany 1953: The Cold War, the German Question and the First Major Upheaval Behind the Iron Curtain, ed. Ostermann, Christian, Budapest, Central European University Press, 2003 , pp. 492

A documentary history in sections, including: i. origins of crisis April 1952-mid-June 1953; ii. the uprising; with introductions to each section and general well referenced introduction.
Brant, Stefan The East German Rising, 17th June 1953, London, Thames and Hudson, 1955 , pp. 202

Ebert, Theodor Non-violent resistance against communist regimes, In Adam Roberts, Civilian Resistance as a National Defence (A. 4.b. Civil Resistance as a means of National Defence, and Lessons from World War II and Czechoslovakia 1968) 1969 , pp. 204-227

Hildebrandt, Rainer The Explosion: The Uprising Behind the Iron Curtain, Boston, Little Brown, 1955 , pp. 198

Websites recommended

Non-violent resistance against communist regimes , 1969
The East German Rising, 17th June 1953 London Thames and Hudson, 1955
The Explosion: The Uprising Behind the Iron Curtain Boston Little Brown, 1955
Uprising in East Germany 1953: The Cold War, the German Question and the First Major Upheaval Behind the Iron Curtain Budapest Central European University Press, 2003

A documentary history in sections, including: i. origins of crisis April 1952-mid-June 1953; ii. the uprising; with introductions to each section and general well referenced introduction.