German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) have called for a stand up for democracy on the 80th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. “The attempted coup on July 20, 1944 failed. The common goals of the resistance did not,” said Scholz at a ceremony in Berlin. Democracy depends on citizens getting involved and also opposing misanthropy and extremism.
Steinmeier warned: “Let us protect our democracy.” This is the best way to remember all those who resisted National Socialism.
Steinmeier, Scholz and the leaders of the Bundesrat and Bundestag laid wreaths in the inner courtyard of the Bendlerblock, where the Ministry of Defense is now located. Wehrmacht officer Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and three other actors of July 20, 1944 were shot there that same evening. According to Kathpress, representatives of the church and Auschwitz survivors also paid tribute to the courage of the conspirators around Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.
Photo: RALF HIRSCHBERGER (AFP)
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Photo: RALF HIRSCHBERGER (AFP)
The group had tried in vain to kill the dictator Hitler with a bomb, to overthrow the National Socialist regime and to end the Second World War. In total, around 200 participants were executed or driven to suicide.
Scholz said that 80 years later, one can testify that the women and men of the resistance were not mistaken. There is an alternative to the Nazi dictatorship – today’s Germany of the Basic Law. The Chancellor made it clear that the resistance does not mean resigning itself to history. “It depends on me – it is this conviction that must unite us today.” Ordinary citizens do not need to carry out heroic deeds that risk their lives. Nevertheless, one thing is clear: “Our democracy depends on our tireless commitment, on the commitment of each and every individual.”
After visiting the memorial’s exhibition, Steinmeier said: “The resistance once morest National Socialism was necessary because the Weimar democracy did not have the support it needed.” Today, in a liberal democracy, commitment to this is still the order of the day. “Not hatred and incitement and certainly not violence. Violence destroys democracy.”
