Popular Uprising in the GDR on 17 June 1953 - but why? We explain.

For 37 years, 17 June was a public holiday in West Germany. The occasion was the popular uprising that took place on this day in 1953 in the former GDR. But what were the estimated one million citizens protesting about when they took to the streets across the country? And why did West Germany commemorate the day for 37 years? We talk to Professor Michael Hau, German scholar and historian at Monash University in Melbourne and explain.

In Görlitz erinnern Gedenktafeln an die Opfer des Volksaufstands vom 17. Juni 1953. Credit: René Mettke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons