One Wednesday in June – 20 Years Ago: People’s Uprising, Workers’ Revolt or Secret Services Putsch?

Directed by Lutz Lehmann

What happened in the GDR on 17 June 1953? Using a lot of original footage, Norddeutscher Rundfunk looks back on the events in a detailed report marking their 20th anniversary and shows different interpretations and explanations. Agent coup? Workers’ revolt? Popular uprising? The interpretations were controversial, even among contemporary witnesses and Western historians.