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TW: This program contains content that may be disturbing for children, young people and sensitive viewers. After Stalin's death, hopes for an end to the communist dictatorship grow in the Eastern Bloc countries. But the growing protests are brutally suppressed from Berlin to Budapest. The construction of the Berlin Wall put an abrupt end to all dreams. From then on, the Iron Curtain stretches right through the middle of Europe, and the satellite states are completely at the mercy of the USSR. Stalin's death on March 5, 1953 initially paves the way for a series of protests and uprisings in oppressed Eastern Europe. It all begins in Berlin, where workers go on strike in June 1953 and deliberately attack symbols of the Soviet occupying power. This first major uprising against the regime installed by the USSR is crushed by Soviet tanks. Hope for possible change came from Moscow in 1956: at the 20th Party Congress of the CPSU, the new Soviet head of government Nikita Khrushchev condemned the crimes of his predecessor. A popular uprising broke out in Budapest, but the Soviet army put a bloody end to it. After that, life went on as before: repression, surveillance, coordination. On the morning of August 13, 1961, East Germany was finally sealed off with the construction of the Wall; the last loophole to freedom was a thing of the past. Barbed wire, mines and orders to shoot were the inhumane reality of the Iron Curtain, which would not fall until 1989. Documentary series, Director: Tania Rakhmanova (F 2022, 52 min) Click here for the first episode: • Satellite states - Europe and the ice... Click here for the second episode: • Stalin's Empire - Europe and the ice... #easterneurope #sovietunion #ironcurtain Video available until 20/04/2025 Link to the media library: https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/111687-... Subscribe to the ARTE YouTube channel: / artede Follow us on social networks: Facebook: / arte.tv Twitter: / artede Instagram: / arte.tv