Germany 80 years of the Hitler assassination - appeals to protect democracy

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) have called on people to stand up for democracy on the 80th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. "The attempted coup on July 20, 1944 failed. The unifying goals of the resistance did not," said Scholz at a ceremony in Berlin. Democracy thrives on citizens getting involved and standing up to misanthropy and extremism.

Steinmeier urged: "Let us protect our democracy." This is the best way to commemorate all those who resisted National Socialism.

Steinmeier, Scholz and the heads of the Bundesrat and Bundestag laid wreaths in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock at the current headquarters of the Ministry of Defense. It was there that the Wehrmacht officer Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and three other members of the July 20, 1944 group were shot that very evening.

The group had tried in vain to kill the dictator Hitler with a bomb, overthrow National Socialist rule and end the Second World War. In total, around 200 of those involved were executed or forced to commit suicide.

Counter-design to the Nazi dictatorship

Scholz said that 80 years on, we can testify that the men and women of the resistance were not mistaken. There was a counter-draft to the Nazi dictatorship - today's Germany of the Basic Law. The Chancellor made it clear that what remained of the resistance was not to resign oneself to history. "It depends on me - it is this conviction that must also unite us today."

Ordinary citizens did not need to perform life-threatening heroic deeds to achieve this. Nevertheless, one thing is clear: "Our democracy depends on our tireless efforts, on the efforts of each and every individual."

After visiting the exhibition at the memorial, Steinmeier said: "The resistance against National Socialism was necessary because the democracy of Weimar did not have the support it needed." Today, in a liberal democracy, commitment is still the order of the day. "Not hatred and agitation and certainly not violence. Violence destroys democracy."

The President paid tribute to the entire German resistance against the Nazi dictatorship. It was not about "flawless heroes", but people "who did the right thing at the right time and at the greatest risk to themselves and their families".

Descendants against "abuse" of the resistance

The Chairman of the July 20, 1944 Foundation, Robert von Steinau-Steinrück, emphasized that the anniversary could be celebrated once again with many relatives as contemporary witnesses. He recalled that many were taken into clan custody in the early Federal Republic and were initially regarded as "children of traitors".

There was also a fight against narratives that were still shaped by the National Socialists - such as the myth that only a "very small clique" was allegedly involved in the attempted coup.

The foundation opposed the "misuse of resistance by right-wing and left-wing extremists and populists". The National Socialists had the resisters murdered, Steinau-Steinrück said and emphasized with regard to statements by Thuringian AfD chairman Björn Höcke: "Anyone who speaks their language or allows it to be spoken can never refer to the resistance or even honour it."

Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) paid tribute to the men and women of July 20, 1944 as role models. In the here and now, too, it is about courage and decency and about "defending democracy against threats from outside and from within, against war and extremism".