Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHT
GEDENKSTÄTTE DEUTSCHER WIDERSTAND
If you've seen the movie
Valkyrie
you know the story of Claus von Stauffenberg, the
poster boy of the German resistance against Hitler and the Third Reich. The very
rooms where senior army officers led by Stauffenberg plotted their bold but ill-fated
assassination attempt on the Führer on 20 July 1944 now form part of the German
Resistance Memorial Centre. The building itself, the historic Bendlerblock, harboured
the Wehrmacht high command from 1935 to 1945 and today is the secondary seat of
the German defence ministry (the primary is still in Bonn).
The centre also documents the efforts of many other Germans who risked their
lives opposing the Third Reich for ideological, religious or military reasons. Most were
just regular folks, such as the students Hans and Sophie Scholl or the craftmaker Ge-
org Elser; others were prominent citizens like the artist Käthe Kollwitz and the theolo-
gian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
In the yard, a sculpture marks the spot where Stauffenberg and three of his co-con-
spirators were executed right after the failed coup.
