Letter: June 17 Uprising in East Germany is Like July 4 Celebration in America

The coming July 4th celebration in America is an important memory in the search of freedom in a new continent. On June 17, 1973, German students and workers rebelled against a so-called communist paradise this striking event began the long arduous march for freedom from the communist colossus which dominated much of Eastern Europe. 

We have reason to remember such dates at July 4, 1776, and June 17, 1953, for these events are Ground Zero events, like December 7, 1941, or September 11, 2001 when the world had changed in decisive ways. Going back into history, which study should be mandatory for all students in this forgetful or amnesic age, is the 500 year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation ignited by Dr. Martin Luther 1517. And it is this Protestant Reformation that sparked the June 17 revolution of 1953 in Eastern Germany that set the course of history in a fresh direction and eventually led to the breaking down of the Eastern and Western Wall and opened the windows and the fresh air of freedom.

The secular press for its own reasons have a wrong turn in understanding how the stones came tumbling down in the fall of the wall in 1989 and German unification of 1990. 

German President Joachim Gauck, is a Lutheran clergyman, and Chancellor Angela Merkel, as a daughter of Lutheran Minister, undoubtedly would understand why Luther's Reformation of faith and hope were indispensable in the collapse of the walls in Eastern Germany, and other countries, because that is the underlying hope and promise of what the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was all about. Please go and re-read Luther. 

In my visits to Berlin - and the last time was in December 2012 - the traumatic days of the first bloody 1953 uprising, which was suppressed by Soviet tanks, Soviet Soldiers, and East German police, came alive once again. This action led to the death of 50 people and 15,000 arrests. These Germans were heroes and martyrs. My friend, Werner, experienced time in such a jail, and it was no Waldorf Astoria imprisonment. In a sense, they were German martyrs of freedom, and President Gauck, is both timely and timeless in stating that this action and these acts were acts of historical courage and need to be remembered as the capacity of the German people to resist oppression. The courage of these days subsequently led to the strengthening of freedom's march in Hungary (1956), Prague (1968), and reunification of both East and West Germany in 1990. 

There is no question that Mikhail Gorbatchev, George H. Bush, Helmut Kohl, and the Lady from Great Britain Thatcher (in spite of her reluctance), caught the importance of the historical moment and worked together for the best interests of all. 

But in all of this, there is another important force, that plays into this historical equation, and that is the Evangelical Movement, largely Lutheran and in very important quiet demonstrations in 1989 marched in the streets with the song in their minds and hearts, "We Shall Over Come," and the "Joshua and the walls coming down." I was at that Leipzig church, in a later visit, and still could feel the marches being moved by prayer, silent songs, and the Old Testament story of Jerico. This all was mesmerizing stuff, and this 1995 summer visit is an enduring memory, but it was the stuff of believing in the promises of God, listening to Lutheran clergyman in churches, and then silently marching through the streets of Leipzig. This was no easy matter. DDR lackey, Eric Honecker, was ready to move with a Chinese massacre, and the Stasi Police, and even the hospitals were ready for some kind of blood bath. 

Uwe Netto-Simmons, a native of Leipzig, and astonishing German American journalist, with landmark studies of rescuing Martin Luther from historical stereotyping, and recently that of Vietnam (Duc), will perhaps agree with my assessment that it was the church, the evangelical movement, and Protestant principal of protest, and above all, the answer to countless prayers that God would deliver Germany from the oppressive Communist colossus. 

As Luther said it, and as it is written on my socks even as I stand in my shoes:  "Hier stehe ich, Ich kann nicht anders tun." 

Dr. Albert Jabs

Lexington