The first parade took place on 1 May 1956 in the presence of President Wilhelm Pieck. In the 60s and early 70s, parades took place on the western half of the Palace of the Republic, which was intended as a military parade ground, even though tremors from the heavy vehicles proved dangerous due to the glass facade. By 1979, the western half was used mainly as a parking lot and military parades were moved to Karl-Marx-Allee in central Berlin. A special parade was held on 13 August 1986 to mark the silver jubilee since construction on the Berlin Wall began, and the parade involved not just the NVA and the Grenztruppen but also the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment and battalions of the Combat Groups of the Working Class.