On June 23, 1953, the victims of the East German Uprising that broke out on June 16 were buried in front of the City Hall in Schöneberg, West Germany. The victims of the uprising could only be mourned on the West German side.

　　Victims of the East German Uprising were buried in front of the City Hall in Schöneberg, West Germany, on June 23, 1953. The victims of the uprising could only be mourned on the West German side; the victims killed in the East German uprising that erupted from East Berlin from a demonstration by construction site workers on June 16, 1953, could only be mourned on the West German side. The East Berlin uprising grew into a widespread uprising against the East German government and the Socialist Unity Party on June 17, involving more than one million people in some 700 localities across the country. The East Berlin uprising was violently suppressed and put down on June 17 by Soviet tanks and East German Army Gendarmerie troops stationed in East Germany. Soviet troops arrived in Berlin at 10:00 a.m. on June 17, while in other parts of the GDR they arrived between noon and afternoon on June 17. The arrival of Soviet tanks caused the East German uprising to rapidly lose momentum.

　After the death of Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953, the 1953 East German Uprising was suppressed by Soviet troops instead of freedoms, and instead of unity, only the East-West German split deepened. Citizens of the East German Democratic Republic who were taken away were sentenced to four to ten years in prison. It is not yet known how many civilians were massacred within the walls of the police station as a result of the sentences handed down by Soviet military tribunals.

　For many of those involved in the uprising, the most poignant disappointment was the inaction of the West. The Allies avoided adding fuel to the fire. As Soviet tanks drove through East Berlin, not a single American, British, or French soldier lifted a finger. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles of the U.S. government's declaration to "drive back, not contain, the Soviet forces" proved ill-advised, at least to the East German Democratic Republic.

　The fear of World War III paralyzed everyone: West Berlin Mayor Ernst Reuter, who was in Vienna on June 17, was denied even a seat on an American military plane to return to West Berlin. In West Berlin, Federal Minister for All German Affairs Jacob Kaiser called on the citizens of East Berlin to remain calm. Police units defended the borders of the western districts and tried to prevent West Berlin citizens from joining the demonstrations. He suggested how helpless West Germany was at the time.