From 1951 onward, May Day, the most important holiday of the international workers’ movement, was celebrated in the GDR with a parade in East Berlin; starting in 1956, the May Day parade opened with a military parade based on the Soviet model. This photograph from the 1963 May Day parade shows a division of the National People’s Army [Nationale Volksarmee or NVA] passing in front of the state and party leadership. The sign in the background reads: “Long live the 1st of May.” Photo by Horst E. Schulze.