„WIR WAREN KALTE KRIEGER! ICH AUCH!" RIAS BERLIN UND DER AUFSTAND DES 17. JUNI 1953 IN DER DDR.

On 17 June 1953 the Communist regime in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was challenged by a spontaneous resistance movement: workers from prominent Stalinallee building sites in East Berlin had come out on strike two days ago. In the morning of 17 June, workers in the whole GDR seized to work for a reduction of working hours and a wage increase - and very soon for free elections and against the communist dictatorship. People in Dresden and Leipzig, in Greifswald and Zeulenroda had learned about the East Berlin strikes. Their most important source of information had been RIAS, Radio in American Sector of Berlin. From its beginnings in 1946, this American-controlled station had been a bitter enemy of the GDR in the Cold War. RIAS journalists - normally Germans and many of them with GDR origins - were well informed about public matters and developments in the GDR. Hence, they watched carefully what happened during the strike and did not conceal their passion for the opposition. This article deals with the activities of RIAS in June 1953 when the communist regime was on the brink of disaster and when the directors of RIAS had to decide what they might be able to do to make this disaster become a reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]