Riots in East Berlin (1953)

Representatives of local authorities and police of the FRG look through binoculars at the riot-torn areas of East Berlin in June 1953. Police officers watch people gathering in the street.

People gather at one of the Berlin subway stations.

Destruction in the center of Berlin in the Potsdamer Platz area.

People on Potsdamer Platz near the Columbus House, documents thrown out of the windows of the upper floors fly out.

View of Potsdamer Platz.

Police on one of the streets of East Berlin.

West German officials on Potsdamer Platz.

One of the officials looks through binoculars.

West Berlin officials on the border of the Soviet zone.

The police chief near his cars.

A group of people arguing among themselves on the street of East Berlin.

A newspaper kiosk in West Berlin, a man comes up and buys a newspaper.

Men on the street reading a newspaper.

View of Potsdamer Platz.

Police on the boulevards and streets of East Berlin.

Passers-by checking their documents and belongings.

A queue at a grocery store.

City residents at intersections and squares blocked by police.

Empty railroad tracks.

A railroad employee walks along an empty platform (top).

One of the railroad employees crosses the tracks (top).

The legs of passers-by.

West Berlin officials look through binoculars at a block of East Berlin near Potsdamer Platz.

Officials leaving in cars.

A water truck drives around Potsdamer Platz, a policeman on the square.

East Berlin residents on one of the streets during the riots.

People near the Columbus House, a panorama of Potsdamer Platz.

The burning Columbus House, a panorama of the square, people gathering on the square.

Police and military patrols on the streets of East Berlin.

A police car drives through the crowd on Potsdamer Platz.

People near the Columbus House, the burning Columbus House.

A rally on the border of the Soviet and American sectors, police detaining rioters.

People in the crowd try to beat up those detained by the police.

Police take away another detainee.

Two men carry a victim out of the crowd.

Police and military patrols on the streets of East Berlin.