During the day of 16 June we sent a warning telegram to our regional representatives informing them of the unrest in Berlin and recommending that they take urgent preventive and preparatory steps to tackle unrest in the regions of GDR. We advised the friends /Ulbricht/ to also warn the regions about this through CC SED channels, but they could not think of anything better than to call the first secretaries of regional committees to Berlin on 17 June "for instruction," and as a result, during the unrest of 17 June the regions were left with practically no top party leaders.
At about 7 o'clock in the morning of 17 June, in East Berlin and in many cities in the western and southern parts of GDR, there took place simultaneous mass strikes that turned into demonstrations, which, in a number of cities / Berlin, Magdeburg, Herlitz, and others/, in turn became riots.
The provocateurs were not able to call out a general strike in Berlin. However, according to preliminary figures, on 17 June 80,000 workers, out of a total number of 200,000 did strike. In addition, the largest enterprises participated in the strike: the Stalin electrical machinery factory, the "Bergman-Borzig" factory, the Soviet enterprises of "Siemens-Planya,” cable factories, and others.
After stopping work, many workers proceeded in columns towards the city centre to Strausberger Platz, where, the day before, the provocateurs called a general city meeting. At 7:30 about 10,000 people gathered at this plaza, who proceeded in separate columns towards the GDR Statehouse, carrying banners "Down with the government," "We demand a decrease of norms," "We demand a decrease of prices at KhO by 40%," "We demand free elections."
At 9 in the morning a crowd of 30,000 people gathered outside the GDR Statehouse, a significant part of which was made up of West Berlin residents, who were the main organizers of the provocations.
The insurgents were able to break through the line of steadfast policemen, who did not use weapons during this time, and after throwing rocks at them, they broke into the Statehouse where a pogrom was committed. The police security force of the Statehouse was reinforced and at the time of the attack numbered 500 men The Statehouse was recaptured only upon the arrival of the Soviet forces, in concert with which by the way, the German police, having been partially beaten by the crowd, actively participated in the reestablishment of order.
At the same time, in the region of Alexanderplatz (the centre of Berlin) large columns of demonstrators came together from the regions of Pankow, Weissensee, and Köpenick (the Soviet sector of Berlin).
The crowds of demonstrators, with the active participation of provocateurs, besieged the CC SED building, the Berlin Polizeipräsidium, the main telegraph, the city trade-union administration and other buildings. At the Alexanderplatz and in the Pankow region, the demonstrators built barricades and obstructions. Windows were smashed in a number of GDR government buildings.
At Potsdamer Platz, on the sector border, the insurgents had an exchange of fire with the people's police and 7 policemen were disarmed.
The provocateurs also organized a pogrom of the bookstore "International book" and of the central department store "KhO" on Alexanderplatz, set fire to the already half-empty department store Kolumbushaus on Potsdamer Platz, looted the cinema "Defa" and a number of other public buildings. There was also looting of stores in other parts of the city.
The crowds of insurgents moved through the city, chanting hostile slogans and singing fascist songs. Numerous groups of provocateurs penetrated through to the city enterprises, to call workers to strike. Most importantly, they tried to stop the main city electrostation Klingenberg, as well as a second large electrostation Rummelsburg and a [natural] gas plant. However, the workers of these enterprises showed a high degree of consciousness and organization, having established their picket lines around the plant buildings, thus not allowing the provocateurs through.
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