Germany commemorates the resistance against Hitler

Berlin (dpa) – On Saturday, marking the 80th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on citizens to stand up for democracy. “The attempted coup on 20 July 1944 failed. But the common goals of the resistance did not,” said Scholz at a ceremony in Berlin. Democracy thrived on active engagement against misanthropy and extremism, said the Chancellor. Steinmeier warned: “Let us protect our democracy,” adding that this was the best way to preserve the memory of all those who had put resistance in the past. Steinmeier, Scholz and the heads of the Bundesrat and Bundestag laid wreaths at the Bendlerblock, where the current headquarters of the Ministry of Defence is located. It was here that Wehrmacht officer Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and three other protagonists of 20 July 1944 were shot the same evening. The group had tried in vain to kill the dictator Hitler by planting a bomb, in an attempt to overthrow National Socialist rule and end the Second World War.