Memorial June 17, 1953
The June 17, 1953 memorial is located in Berlin-Nikolassee and commemorates the June 17 uprising .
On June 25, 1953, just a few days after the uprising was put down, a large wooden cross was erected on the median of Potsdamer Chaussee in the West Berlin district of Nikolassee to commemorate the victims and the intrepid fighters . It is located in the immediate vicinity of the Zehlendorfer Kleeblatt, not far from the former Bravo checkpoint .
1954 was a memorial supplemented at the initiative of a Russian exile group led by a memorial stone "that had to die because they refused to fire on the freedom fighters of June 17, 1953 Russian officers and soldiers," is dedicated. These are said to be 18 Soviet soldiers who were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and shot on June 28, 1953.
Historians , however, doubt that these executions actually took place and believe that it is deliberate misinformation. It was determined that the information about the executions came from only one source: a leaflet distributed by the Russian emigre association NTS - Association of Russian Solidarists . According to contemporary publications, the information was provided by a Soviet major named Nikita Ronschin, who is said to have fled to the West after the uprising. However, an examination of the archives of the Ministry for State Security by the Gauck authorities revealed that Ronschin had defected to the American in April 1953 and had been brought to West Germany . In addition, the army unit in which the soldiers concerned are said to have served, according to the NTS organization, had already been disbanded before June 17th.
Sources and web links
- Berliner Morgenpost, May 6, 2007: The cross with the Russians
- Der Tagesspiegel, May 12, 2003: 18 deaths that did not occur
Coordinates: 52 ° 25 ′ 17.8 " N , 13 ° 11 ′ 54.1" E