Target site summary: Leipziger Strasse, Berlin

On the corner of Leipziger Strasse and Wilhelm Strasse, outside the present Finanz Ministerium, formerly the GDR Haus des Ministeriums, originally built as the Nazi Air Ministry, stands a monument commemorating the short-lived protest in 1953 by GDR workers against wage cuts imposed by their government. Construction workers and others marched on this building on 16 June and the demonstration was violently suppressed by Soviet forces the following day. The East German government blamed the incident on Western, fascist agitation and sabotage, although the West had, in fact, nothing to do with it and were much surprised by the uprising. The Western powers observed strict neutrality and did not intervene or speak out. Later, the memory was suppressed in the East but celebrated in the West with the naming of the Strasse des 17 Juni. A monument was erected in 1993 in the form of a blown up photograph set in glass at ground-level. The area is also equipped with a bronze plaque, information panels and banners with photographs of scenes from the confrontation on the street. A communist-era mural is also visible in the colonnade at the end of the building.

Survey: PR-E-140505 carried out by Anthony Auerbach assisted by Rachel Juris, 14 May 2005, 181 photographs