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Abstract

In its declaration of June 9, 1953, the Politburo of the SED acknowledged that the party and the government had made policy mistakes in the past. It also held out the prospect of an improved standard of living for the population and promised greater consideration for the interests of the bourgeois middle class, farmers, and university graduates. During the first months of 1953, members of these groups, who were crucial to the GDR’s economic success, had fled to the West in dramatically rising numbers.

From a Communiqué by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED (June 9, 1953)

Source

At its meeting on June 9, 1953, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED decided to recommend that the government of the German Democratic Republic implement a number of measures to bring about a marked improvement in the standard of living of all segments of the population and to strengthen legal security in the German Democratic Republic. The Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED proceeded from the assumption that the SED and the government of the GDR had made a number of past mistakes, which found their expression in decrees and directives, such as, for example, the decree on the reorganization of the provisioning of ration cards, [the decree] on the takeover of destroyed agricultural enterprises, in extraordinary measures of registration, in tougher methods of tax collecting, etc. The interests of certain segments of the population, such as individual farmers, individual retailers, tradesmen, and intellectuals were neglected. Moreover, serious mistakes were made in counties, districts, and towns during the implementation of said decrees and directives. One result was that many individuals left the republic.

[…]

Source: From a Communiqué by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED (June 9, 1953), Neues Deutschland (June 11, 1953); reprinted in Ernst Deuerlein, ed., DDR [GDR]. Munich, 1966, p. 132.

Translation: Thomas Dunlap