https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb Made with a taste for adventure en-us 2021-03-08 17:35:31 UTC 2023-10-04 03:45:14 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283460479 2021-03-08 17:40:27 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283460479 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283463068 2021-03-08 17:40:54 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283463068 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283467527 2021-03-08 17:41:37 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283467527 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283486631 "The previous day, East Berlin had witnessed its first major mass strikes since the war. Emboldened by the announcement of the New Course, cheered on by Stalin's death, frustrated by the fact that the new policies didn't seem to include lower work quotas, Berlin's workers had taken to the streets to protest. Lutz Rackow, an East German journalist, had walked down Stalinallee on June 16 alongside several thousand construction workers. They carried banners-'Berliners, join us! We don't want to be slaves to our work!'"


Frustrated with Ulbricht's refusal to lower the work quotas after Stalin's death, resulting in strikes which picked up workers and grew in size until it became a full revolt. Stalin's death weakened the Soviet Grip on East German society due to losing the mighty Stalin's Cult along with the ensuing power struggle between the ruling oligarchy which directed the Soviet Union's attention towards domestic and not foreign affairs. The Soviet officials even told Ulbricht to bring down the work quotas to avoid a revolution but he refused to comply, thus the revolt eventually blew up.]]> 2021-03-08 17:44:56 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283486631 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283516677 Soviet officials knew that there would be an uprising, just not on the scale or with anti-Soviet intentions that they saw. The Soviet Union also claimed that the West provoked the uprising, partially out of a necessity to conceal their own failure.]]> 2021-03-08 17:49:50 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283516677 9959089 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283526804 "The events that have taken place in Berlin and the other large cities of the Soviet Zone of Germany today, 17 June, seem to be a major planned uprising covering the whole territory of the German Democratic Republic and aimed at making a coup d'etat and simultaneously replacing the government in the German Democratic Republic."


The Soviet Army saw the uprising as an affair that was planned in advance. They believe the citizens became enflamed by some centralized force.]]> 2021-03-08 17:51:32 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283526804 9959026 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283563924 "The demonstrators are shouting slogans like, 'Down with German-Soviet friendship,' 'Down with the government . . . Long live Western freedom,' 'We want a new government,' 'Long live the general strike . . . We want butter, not armed police,' 'We want free elections in Berlin,'"

The East German workers who went on strike in Berlin generally expressed disdain for the Soviets' subversion of their everyday lives in favor of such measures as increased police/paramilitary presence, as well as the installation of the SED against the public vote]]> 2021-03-08 17:57:47 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283563924 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283571342 This political cartoon warns against the Soviet intentions behind a reunification by highlighting their repressive actions in response to the East German Uprising of 1953]]> 2021-03-08 17:58:56 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283571342 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283646563 This political cartoon highlights many of the East Germans' woes which they placed the blame on the Soviet Union, namely the collectivization of agriculture and the food shortages throughout the country.]]> 2021-03-08 18:10:56 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1283646563 9959026 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1299345203 Hanz-Walter Benzko points out that there were not only East Berliners at the demonstrations, protests and riots, but "West Berlin provocateurs" as well. This shows the tinge of opportunism present at the uprising, presumably due to the increasing volatility and apparent bias of Soviet leadership following Stalin's death. 

One reason the prevalent anti-Soviet sentiments culminated on June 16th and 17th in 1955 of all years may have been that this presented a chance for the Germans to entirely shake off Soviet control by causing enough of a rupture in their grip that it forces them to withdraw to the East and hold their control there.]]> 2021-03-11 17:45:18 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1299345203 9959026 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1299390049 Khruschev later used the uprising and the Soviets' failure to prevent or contain it before it became an event as part of his argument against Beria, as well as to have him arrested 10 days after the uprising began. 

This appears to show the Russian side of the opportunism that emerged from and within the uprising, as well as illustrates the gravity of the uprising's significance to Soviet control as it represented a major breach of the Soviets' police and military power.]]> 2021-03-11 17:53:21 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1299390049 9959089 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1299412986 A Soviet tank approaches Germany but is stopped by a German submarine's periscope.

This is a reference to the mighty Kriegsmarine during WWII. Additionally, it suggests that  ]]> 2021-03-11 17:57:42 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1299412986 9959089 https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1301177590 Two lightning bolts strike the Kremlin, one of which is titled, "Satellite Unrest" and the other, "Beria Purge"

The image signifies that both these high profile events occurred shortly after Stalin's death. The title is a reference to the saying, "Lightning never strikes twice". 

The image essentially suggests that the unrest in the satellite states is rare and unexpected, as it is compared to a double striking lightning bolt. ]]> 2021-03-12 03:05:37 UTC https://padlet.com/9959089/qgiphfqpu18k6xdb/wish/1301177590